Modern Slavery (Transparency in Supply Chains) Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Keen of Elie and Lord Boateng

Friday 8th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Boateng]

I am grateful to the Minister but, having consulted his ministerial colleagues, will he undertake to write to me?

[Lord Keen of Elie]

I will request that appropriate provision is made in order that the noble Lord can be written to.

[Lord Boateng]

I could not ask for more from a lawyer.

[Lord Keen of Elie]

I am obliged to the noble Lord.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, raised a number of issues. One of them was how we identify those corporate entities or partnerships that have an obligation under Section 54. The obligation was designed to coincide with the definition of large companies under the Companies Act in the context of registration. I am not saying that that takes us very much further forward, but there is at least a litmus test that one can have regard to in that context. I do not seek to ignore the other points that she raised, but I hope I have covered them in the course of this reply.

The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, asked about public bodies. Again, if I may, I repeat that they are subject to a parallel provision—albeit not identical, for obvious reasons—and that is being developed under reference to the code that I mentioned before.

In conclusion, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Young, for raising this important topic. The Government have listened and reflected carefully on the topics raised by her Bill. We are determined to lead by example on this issue and do everything that we can to prevent modern slavery in both the public and private sector supply chains in this country, and indeed overseas. While the Government are not persuaded that further legislation is the right approach at this stage, we welcome the ideas in the Bill. We will want to examine some of them in more detail and, as I have said before, I will be happy to meet with the noble Baroness again to do so.