draft Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in supply chains) Regulations 2015

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2015 General Committees

[Karen Bradley]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, particularly those on the Modern Slavery Act 2015. She was an active member of the Bill Committee, and I agree that the Act is better legislation as a result of the extensive consultation and collaborative work from across the House.

The hon. Lady discussed what must be included in the scope of the declaration. We will, of course, issue guidance to accompany the regulations. We have again consulted widely with business and business organisations to ensure that the guidance is relevant and appropriate. One of the biggest issues we found was that, although businesses were crying out for legislation on slavery and people trafficking, they were also concerned about how they could implement the requirements of such legislation. We therefore worked with businesses to ensure that the guidance reflects that and to give them the support that they need. Ultimately, it is for businesses to ensure that consumers know what they are doing and what they are buying, so we feel it is right to leave a degree of flexibility. Consumers, NGOs and others will push to ensure that the race to the top that we hope to see does actually happen.

The hon. Lady asked about small companies. She is right that we did not want to impose an unnecessary burden on them, but let us be clear that there is no place for slavery in any supply chain. Although the legislative obligation is on large companies—those with a turnover of more than £36 million—we do expect small companies to look for slavery and ensure that there is none in their supply chains.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend the Minister agree that a lot of small companies will be part of the supply chain for large companies, so they will be covered under the legislation?

[Karen Bradley]

I thank my hon. Friend, who makes the exact point I was coming to. There are many small companies in the supply chain. On the whole, the small companies that are the lifeblood of industry in my constituency are suppliers to the larger business that will be reporting and will expect those smaller companies to provide the information required to make appropriate and user-friendly reports.

This legislation is about putting power in the hands of the consumer and saying to the British public that they will have a groundbreaking provision that will help them to make informed decisions about whether they want to buy goods from businesses that do not take the issue seriously. Businesses themselves can come out and be proud of the work that they are doing to ensure that there is no slavery in the supply chain. I am confident that the regulations will help to ensure that the UK is, and is seen to be, the world leader that we are on modern slavery.

Question put and agreed to.