Baroness Massey of Darwen
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Covid-19: Child Trafficking
Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
The Government see it as very important that we continue not only to share such data but to have access to it. To that end, it is a top priority going forward.
Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab) [V]
My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, I am concerned about the child victims of trafficking who are coerced into illegal activities, such as working in cannabis factories. These children may be caught and prosecuted, while those who run the factories escape. How will our overstretched children’s services support such victims in these challenging times?
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
The noble Baroness will recall that, through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Government introduced the statutory defence for victims of modern slavery to protect those really vulnerable people who would previously have been unfairly prosecuted, as she said, for crimes that they were forced to commit by their exploiters—notably, as she mentioned, in cannabis cultivation.