Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people in the National Referral Mechanism in receipt of Victim Care Contract support will continue to receive that support during covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the safety and security of potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery has been our priority. We have continued to work closely with the Prime Contractor for the Victim Care Contract (VCC), The Salvation Army, to ensure individuals get the support they need and we can continue to take new referrals.
There remains flexibility in the VCC to address the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions through existing policies, such as the extension request mechanism and Recovery Needs Assessments (RNAs). A minimum of 45 calendar days of VCC ‘move-on’ support will be maintained for confirmed victims following their receipt of a positive Conclusive Grounds (CG) decision and support is then tailored based on the recovery needs of the victims. The extension request process remains in place for individuals in receipt of a negative CG decision who require longer to exit support.
Support workers will continue to consider the capacity of local services when planning move-on after a positive or negative Conclusive Grounds decision and will not facilitate move-on unless it is safe and appropriate to do so. RNA decision-making by the Single Competent Authority will also take account of these factors.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether financial support for victims of trafficking is adjusted for inflation by (a) date and (b) amount of each adjustment.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In reference to your first question, the rates for financial support are set out in the Victim Care Contract (VCC) and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.
In reference to your second question, there is no distinction made between victims of trafficking and modern slavery in relation to support provided by the VCC. The current VCC has been operational since 2015; providing support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.
We are aware that some individuals may have received incorrect financial support payments during their time in VCC support until 30 November 2019. Financial support payments may have been reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income, in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. We are working at pace to establish who may have been affected. We will communicate further details on how we plan to rectify this issue in the coming weeks.
In reference to your third question, the data requested on how many and what proportion of people in the NRM from April 2019 to March 2020 are receiving subsistence payments does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office published quarterly statistics regarding the NRM which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether financial support for victims of trafficking has been adjusted for inflation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Victim Care Contract (VCC) provides support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.
The rates for financial support are set out in the VCC and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which languages the National Referral Mechanism Referral form for referring potential victims of trafficking or modern slavery is published in.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are made by First Responders via the Modern Slavery Online Portal. As the referral can only be made by designated First Responders, the portal is only available in English.
The First Responder is responsible for identifying potential victims of modern slavery, gathering information in order to understand what has happened to them and referring them to the NRM, or notifying the Home Office under the Duty to Notify where an adult does not consent to referral to the NRM.
Further information on the referral pathways can be found in the Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many grants of Discretionary Leave to Remain have been made to victims of human trafficking or modern slavery with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism, on the grounds of their personal circumstances relating to safety on return to country of origin.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office publishes statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2019-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery These publications provide the number and nationality of potential victims referred into the NRM and the number of NRM referrals by location of exploitation. The statistics do not currently provide a breakdown of nationalities by location of exploitation. Numbers and reasons for grants of discretionary leave to remain to victims of modern slavery do not currently form part of modern slavery published statistics. The safety on return to a victim’s country of origin is assessed as part of the protection-based decision where the victim has also claimed asylum. Where a victim has not claimed asylum, their safety on return related to their exploitation is considered within the personal circumstances element of their modern slavery discretionary leave to remain decision, where relevant. |
Statistics on the total number of people granted Discretionary Leave for all reasons can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time is for which someone with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism for victims of modern slavery is usually granted Discretionary Leave to Remain.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office publishes statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2019-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery These publications provide the number and nationality of potential victims referred into the NRM and the number of NRM referrals by location of exploitation. The statistics do not currently provide a breakdown of nationalities by location of exploitation. Numbers and reasons for grants of discretionary leave to remain to victims of modern slavery do not currently form part of modern slavery published statistics. The safety on return to a victim’s country of origin is assessed as part of the protection-based decision where the victim has also claimed asylum. Where a victim has not claimed asylum, their safety on return related to their exploitation is considered within the personal circumstances element of their modern slavery discretionary leave to remain decision, where relevant. |
Statistics on the total number of people granted Discretionary Leave for all reasons can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, of the people referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2019 reporting exploitation that took place (a) in the UK, (b) in the UK and overseas, and (c) overseas only, how many people in each of those categories were (i) EEA and Swiss nationals, (ii) UK nationals, and (iii) non-EEA or Swiss foreign nationals.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office publishes statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2019-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery These publications provide the number and nationality of potential victims referred into the NRM and the number of NRM referrals by location of exploitation. The statistics do not currently provide a breakdown of nationalities by location of exploitation. Numbers and reasons for grants of discretionary leave to remain to victims of modern slavery do not currently form part of modern slavery published statistics. The safety on return to a victim’s country of origin is assessed as part of the protection-based decision where the victim has also claimed asylum. Where a victim has not claimed asylum, their safety on return related to their exploitation is considered within the personal circumstances element of their modern slavery discretionary leave to remain decision, where relevant. |
Statistics on the total number of people granted Discretionary Leave for all reasons can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the victims of (a) human trafficking or (b) modern slavery who were granted asylum or humanitarian protection in each of (i) 2016, (ii) 2017, (iii) 2018 and (iv) 2019 were granted asylum or humanitarian protection on the grounds of circumstances unconnected to human trafficking or modern slavery.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data on how many and what proportion of the victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, and those who are foreign national victims, who were granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave for the years 2016 to 2019, as this information is not held in a reportable format. This also includes those who are EU nationals and/or on the grounds of circumstances unconnected to human trafficking or modern slavery.
However, The Home Office can state how many people were granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave, and can be found at Asy_02a of the published Immigration Statistics:
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of foreign national victims of human trafficking and modern slavery (a) applied for and (b) were granted (i) asylum (ii) humanitarian protection or (iii) Discretionary Leave to Remain in each year from 2016 to 2019 inclusive were EU nationals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data on how many and what proportion of the victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, and those who are foreign national victims, who were granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave for the years 2016 to 2019, as this information is not held in a reportable format. This also includes those who are EU nationals and/or on the grounds of circumstances unconnected to human trafficking or modern slavery.
However, The Home Office can state how many people were granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave, and can be found at Asy_02a of the published Immigration Statistics:
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who had been identified as trafficked used her Department’s Voluntary Returns Service during (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019; and which were the top five countries they returned to.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics on all types of removals from the UK which includes voluntary departures. The latest statistics are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2020
Table Ret_D01 shows returns from the UK by type. The Home Office holds data on those identified as having been trafficked into the UK, but not in a format which can easily be reported. To provide the data requested would require examination of individual case files which could only be done at prohibitive cost.