The government’s scheme to tackle illegal gangmasters, who employ illegal immigrants on slave wages and in appalling conditions, has been described as “woefully inadequate” by a parliamentary committee.

Operation Gangmaster, the government’s answer to the problem, is failing according to the report, and must be put under the control of a single minister in the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The scheme currently operates across several different government departments and is seriously underfunded, the report claimed.

It has been criticised because different departments, including the Immigration Service, Department of Work and Pensions and DEFRA have been unable to co-ordinate the scheme properly.

Anyone who is found guilty of knowingly employing an illegal worker can be fined up to £5,000 per person.

The high street employment agency Reed was earlier this year revealed to have unwittingly employed illegal immigrants using bogus documentation.

The industry trade body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), has urged the government to introduce identity cards.

It also wants gangmasters to be registered to ensure they operate within the law – but the committee claimed this was unnecessary.

Illegal workers often find work in seasonal agricultural jobs.

The committee’s chair, Tory MP David Curry, said: “Industry has much to do if abuses of casual labour and other forms of illegal activity are not to become an integral part of the way fresh produce reaches our tables.”