draft Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Code of Practice) regulations 2016

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Monday 18th April 2016 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Karen Bradley)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. I start by apologising to the hon. Member for Hyndburn. These were matters that we discussed at length during the passage of the Modern Slavery Bill through Parliament last year. I had not wished to detain the Committee by repeating those discussions and arguments, but I am more than happy to answer his concerns and, if there are any outstanding issues, to write to all members of the Committee so that they are clear about what the Government intend with the measures that we are commencing and the code of practice.

My hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield made a point about the 45 days granted under the national referral mechanism. His comments relate to the Modern Slavery Act, so I am more than happy to respond to them, although they are not strictly within the remit of our discussion today. The national referral mechanism is an international obligation on the UK Government: under international conventions, we are obliged to provide a 30-day minimum period of reflection and safety. In fact, we guarantee a minimum of 45 days, and very few victims or potential victims of slavery get only that; the average is considerably longer. They are given specific provision for their welfare to ensure that we can support them to the best of our ability.

There is no doubt that there have been problems with the national referral mechanism, which is why we are piloting a new form of it. I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend’s point about understanding what happens to victims afterwards to ensure that they are not retrafficked; that is exactly why we are piloting the new scheme, and it is exactly the point that we hope the Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland, will take on board—I know he is doing a lot of work to ensure that there is full understanding. My hon. Friend will know that the Salvation Army currently runs the care contract for the Government, and a very good job it does too. But there is definitely more we can do to ensure that victims and potential victims of trafficking get the support they need.

I also agree absolutely with the point that the hon. Member for Rotherham made about children. We have to help child victims of trafficking; that is why we trialled independent child trafficking advocates and why I am determined that we must have an appropriate advocacy scheme for children. She also made the point about children going missing; she will know that, when the trial was run by Barnardo’s—and a very good job it did—the evidence was that as many, if not more, children who had an advocate went missing as those who did not.

We have to get this right. Children going missing is not acceptable, because, as the hon. Lady says, the danger is that they will return to their traffickers. I fully intend to bring forward proposals for a revised scheme; we must try to get this right so that children are given the support they need. She is also right that this is an issue of organised crime and that the UK is a destination country, but it is also a source and transit country. Slavery is happening in towns, villages and cities up and down this country, and we need to do everything we can to deal with it.

On the matter under discussion today, colleagues will know that, before the Modern Slavery Act, police and other law enforcement agencies had the right to board a ship if it arrived in a port over which they had jurisdiction, but not if it was in open waters. Organised crime gangs were putting slaves on ships and, when they got wind of the possibility that authorities knew about them, they were disposing of the evidence. Frankly, that is not an acceptable situation, and that is why the measures in the Modern Slavery Act were introduced; the hon. Member for Foyle contributed to many of the debates on it when the Bill was in Committee. The original proposals did not include the territorial waters of the devolved Administrations in Scotland or Northern Ireland. We wanted to make sure we got this right and that we included the territorial waters of all the United Kingdom, so that when law enforcement officers are in hot pursuit of a British ship, they can go into the territorial waters of the devolved Administrations, find the victims of slavery and board the ship in open water.

Since the Act was passed in March last year, we have been working with the devolved Administrations to deal with the intricacies that come from subsequent Acts in those Administrations that have caused some slight problems. The regulations we are bringing forward today will make sure that these measures will be live from 31 May this year, so that we can find, protect and look after as many victims of slavery as possible. I want to assure the hon. Member for Foyle that work is going on with the devolved Administrations to ensure that we are able to protect victims. For example, we know that there is organised criminality in the fishing industry between the Faroe Islands and Scottish waters, with slaves being held on trawlers. We need to ensure that we can not only get to those slaves in a port, but in open waters.

I will address two specific points and, as I have said, write on other specific points that have been raised. The hon. Member for Rotherham talked about an additional exception in paragraph 3.1(a). I am satisfied that such circumstances would be caught by the power to search and obtain information under paragraph 3 of schedule 2 to the 2015 Act. I hope that that clarifies the point.

The hon. Member for Hyndburn asked about ships in international waters. The issue is whether an offence has taken place contrary to either section 1 or section 2 of the 2015 Act. The locations where the powers can be used are set out in section 35(1) of the Act. I hope that that clarifies the point he raised.

With that, I hope that the Committee will be happy to accept the regulations.

Question put and agreed to.