Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Andrew Selous

Monday 21st May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

21. What recent steps she has taken to eradicate human trafficking.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone)]

In 2011, the Government published their human trafficking strategy, opted into the EU directive and improved the support arrangements for adult trafficking victims. Since then we have been working across Government and with stakeholders further to strengthen and improve our approach to tackling human trafficking.

[Andrew Selous]

Many people believe that trafficking is about foreigners being trafficked into the UK, but do the Government accept the need for great vigilance on the question of British citizens being trafficked within the United Kingdom and outside it, which has recently been shown to be happening?

[Lynne Featherstone]

Of course, the terrible incident in Bedfordshire highlighted the issue of internal trafficking and the Government have taken action. We recently passed clauses in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to make internal labour trafficking a criminal offence, which will come into force in April 2013. We also made it an offence for a UK national to traffic a person for sexual or other exploitation, regardless of where in the world the trafficking occurs or is intended to occur.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Andrew Selous

Monday 7th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

19. When she plans to announce the outcome of her review of human trafficking policy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone)]

Combating human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of women and girls, is a key priority for the Government. We are committed to tackling organised crime groups who profit from this human misery, and to protecting victims. We are due to publish our new strategy on human trafficking in the spring.

[Andrew Selous]

Will my hon. Friend make sure that the review deals with trafficked children who are placed in local authority care, where one would hope they would be safe, only to go missing and often to be re-trafficked? That is an appalling state of affairs. I hope that she can give me some reassurance that the review will deal with this very distressing aspect of trafficking in the United Kingdom.

[Lynne Featherstone]

Yes, the Government acknowledge the difficult and important issue of children going missing from local authorities. At a national level, we are strengthening the arrangements in place to support vulnerable young people by placing the national strategic policing responsibility for missing children within the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. In fact, its thematic review deals explicitly with the issue of trafficked children going missing from local authorities.