Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will work with specialist organisations to create a national framework for adult survivors of sexual exploitation, led by her Department and including a statutory definition of adult sexual exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery including sexual exploitation. The Modern Slavery Act 2015, gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims. Section 3 of the Act defines the meaning of exploitation in the context of modern slavery and sexual exploitation is included within this definition.
In July 2018, the Government commissioned an Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 201 , https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act-final-report to identify what can be improved in the implementation of the Act and whether specific areas of the legislation need to be strengthened. The Review found that the meaning of exploitation should not be amended as it is sufficiently flexible to meet a range of circumstances, including new and emerging forms of modern slavery.
The Government also published statutory guidance under Section 49 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950690/January_2021_-_Modern_Slavery_Statutory_Guidance__E_W__Non-Statutory_Guidance__S_NI__v2.pdf of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in March 2020, providing a clear framework of support for some of the most vulnerable people in society. The guidance clarifies the roles and responsibilities of frontline staff and local stakeholders and sets out the support victims are entitled to and how this is accessed.
The Government is very aware that victims of modern slavery including sexual exploitation often have needs arising from their exploitation. That is why, the UK Government provides specialist support and advocacy services for victims of modern slavery regardless of their immigration status to assist them in rebuilding their lives and reintegrating into local communities.
The NRM is the process by which the UK identifies and supports potential victims of modern slavery including sexual exploitation by connecting them with appropriate support, which may be delivered through the specialist Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), local authorities and asylum services. The introduction of the new MSVCC, which went live on the 4 January 2021, has brought about a number of new services and greater prescription to existing services to better meet the needs of each victim, including those with specialist or complex needs. The MSVCC will continue to provide accommodation, financial support payments, translation and interpretation, transport and access to an outreach support worker for those who are identified as a potential victim and receive a positive Reasonable Grounds decision from the Single Competent Authority.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing statutory responsibilities to support adult survivors of sexual exploitation; and whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to develop that framework.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery including sexual exploitation. The Modern Slavery Act 2015, gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims. Section 3 of the Act defines the meaning of exploitation in the context of modern slavery and sexual exploitation is included within this definition.
In July 2018, the Government commissioned an Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 201 , https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act-final-report to identify what can be improved in the implementation of the Act and whether specific areas of the legislation need to be strengthened. The Review found that the meaning of exploitation should not be amended as it is sufficiently flexible to meet a range of circumstances, including new and emerging forms of modern slavery.
The Government also published statutory guidance under Section 49 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950690/January_2021_-_Modern_Slavery_Statutory_Guidance__E_W__Non-Statutory_Guidance__S_NI__v2.pdf of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in March 2020, providing a clear framework of support for some of the most vulnerable people in society. The guidance clarifies the roles and responsibilities of frontline staff and local stakeholders and sets out the support victims are entitled to and how this is accessed.
The Government is very aware that victims of modern slavery including sexual exploitation often have needs arising from their exploitation. That is why, the UK Government provides specialist support and advocacy services for victims of modern slavery regardless of their immigration status to assist them in rebuilding their lives and reintegrating into local communities.
The NRM is the process by which the UK identifies and supports potential victims of modern slavery including sexual exploitation by connecting them with appropriate support, which may be delivered through the specialist Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), local authorities and asylum services. The introduction of the new MSVCC, which went live on the 4 January 2021, has brought about a number of new services and greater prescription to existing services to better meet the needs of each victim, including those with specialist or complex needs. The MSVCC will continue to provide accommodation, financial support payments, translation and interpretation, transport and access to an outreach support worker for those who are identified as a potential victim and receive a positive Reasonable Grounds decision from the Single Competent Authority.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the accessibility of the EU Settlement Scheme for victims of (a) modern slavery and (b) human trafficking.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Settlement Scheme is an accessible scheme which handles vulnerable customers with sensitivity and flexibility, according to their needs.
We have adopted a mixed model approach, using a range of responses to accommodate the often diverse and complex needs that particularly vulnerable people might present, including victims of modern slavery and trafficking.
A user group of external Grant Funded Organisations (GFOs) which represent the needs of vulnerable individuals has been established to work with the Home Office to assess and understand relevant risks and issues and to ensure the right support arrangements are in place for vulnerable applicants.
38 of those GFOs specialise in helping victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and can provide a bespoke support service to those individuals eligible to apply to EUSS.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether all Prevent projects commissioned by local authorities are pre-approved by her Department.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office funds dedicated Prevent posts and projects in local authorities where the risk of radicalisation is most acute, to reduce the threat from terrorism.
Local authorities who receive Prevent priority Home Office funding are invited to develop and submit bids for locally commissioned projects. These bids must explain how these projects effectively mitigate the threat in that area. Bids are assessed by the Home Office and moderated by a cross-government panel before funding is approved.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the definition of a civil society organisations in relation to the Prevent strategy includes private companies.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office funds dedicated Prevent posts and locally commissioned projects in local authorities where the risk of radicalisation is most acute, to reduce the threat from terrorism.
The term Civil Society is an umbrella term for third sector organisations. Prevent projects can be delivered by national and local charities, community groups and organisations and private companies. Local authorities submit bids based on each organisations capability and capacity to deliver a project that will mitigate the threat in their local areas.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total number is of women known to the police to have been subjected to domestic abuse or coercive control who have died in sudden or unexplained circumstances; and for how many and what proportion of that number the cause of death was classed as (a) homicide, (b) suicide, (c) accidental, (d) natural causes and (e) open verdicts.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office does not hold the information in the categories requested. However, according to the Office of National Statistics, in the period April 2018-March 2019, in 99 cases of Female Homicide the suspect was either a son, daughter, family member or former or current partner.
Some of this information is included in Domestic Homicide Reviews; government is currently reviewing how to collate such information.
The statistics can be found on this link https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019/relateddata
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances there have been of an Independent Child Trafficking Guardian acting as a litigation friend for a child in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office does not hold this data.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a requirement for statutory agencies to refer women who disclose (a) historical and (b) ongoing sexual exploitation to specialist sexual exploitation services.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling all forms of sexual violence and exploitation, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.
We are committed to ensuring that victims of these crimes have access to high-quality support services to help them cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. The right to access these services is set out in the recently revised Code of Practice for Victims of Crime.
The recently revised Victims’ Code, which comes into force on 1 April 2021, will ensure that victims benefit from a clearer set of rights and that these rights are recognised at every stage of the justice system. The revised Victims’ Code provides a solid foundation on which we can progress the Victims’ Law. The Ministry of Justice aims to consult on the full details of the Victims’ Law later this year.
Potential victims of sexual exploitation have access to specialist support and advocacy services to assist them in rebuilding their lives and reintegrating into local communities. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the process by which the UK identifies and supports potential victims of modern slavery including sexual exploitation by connecting them with appropriate support, which may be delivered through the specialist Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), local authorities and asylum services.
The introduction of the new MSVCC, which went live on the 4 January 2021, has brought about a number of new services and greater prescription to existing services to better meet the needs of each victim, including those with specialist or complex needs. The MSVCC will continue to provide accommodation, financial support payments, translation and interpretation, transport and access to an outreach support worker for those who are identified as a potential victim and receive a positive Reasonable Grounds decision from the Single Competent Authority.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that girls who are experiencing sexual exploitation continue to receive support when responsibility for their safety and wellbeing transitions from children to adult safeguarding services.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Sexual exploitation is a devastating crime. The Government understands and recognises that exploitation does not end just because a child reaches 18 years of age. The statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, is clear that agencies should work together to plan and prepare for this transition. The Home Office is working closely with colleagues across government, including with the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure children transitioning from child to adult services continue to receive support, where this is needed.
Provision of support for victims of all forms of sexual violence and abuse is a priority for the Government. We have significantly increased funding for support services across the country, which victims and survivors can access throughout their lifetime to help them cope with the devastating impact of sexual abuse and exploitation. For example, in 2020 the Ministry of Justice increased the funding available to rape support centres across England and Wales by 50%, from £8 million to £12 million per annum, to provide much needed support to victims of sexual violence and abuse.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been referred to the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship service broken since October 2018; and what information her Department holds on the (a) looked after children status, (b) age, (c) gender and (d) nationality of those children.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office has rolled out Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs), an independent source of advice for trafficked children, in one third of local authorities across England and Wales. ICTGs provide one-to-one support for children who have no one with parental responsibility for them in the UK via an ICTG Direct Worker (DW). They also provide an expert ICTG Regional Practice Co-ordinator (RPC), first introduced in October 2018, for children where there is someone with parental responsibility for them in the UK.
Data tables published in October 2020 as part of the Assessment of Independent Child Trafficking Guardians – Regional Practice Co-ordinators: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-independent-child-trafficking-guardians show ICTG referral data between October 2018 and December 2019:
(a) The Home Office does hold data about the LAC status of children within the ICTG service. However, this data is not currently published and so, on this basis, we cannot provide any details on how many children receiving ICTG support are LAC.
(b) The split of gender in this timeframe is 378 males (243 DW and 135 RPC) and 134 females (77 DW and 57 RPC), these do not include some values that have been suppressed in order to protect the confidentiality of children in the ICTG service.
(c) The split by age group in this timeframe is:
These also do not include values that have been supressed in order to protect the confidentiality of children in the ICTG service.
(d) The total RPC caseload in this timeframe was 193 children. Out of this, 174 children were UK nationals. Due to the small numbers involved, data on other nationalities within the RPC caseload has not been provided in order to protect confidentiality.
For the DW role the following data is recorded for the timeframe: 320 children in total on the DW caseload. 56 Vietnamese nationals, 40 Sudanese nationals, 38 UK nationals, 30 Albanian nationals, 23 Gambian nationals, 22 Afghan nationals, 19 Romanian nationals, 17 Ghanaian nationals, 13 Eritrean nationals, 10 Iraqi nationals and 6 Iranian nationals. As with the RPC role, other nationalities cannot be included due to small numbers and the confidentiality required.
The Home Office publishes statistics on NRM referrals on a quarterly basis, reports from Q2 2019 – Q3 2020 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.
Reports from 2018 and 2017 can be found here respectively:
https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/282-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-end-of-year-summary-2018/file and; https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/159-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-annual-report-2017/file.