Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

Sarah Dines Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Miss Sarah Dines)]

I shall do my best. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) for securing this debate. As he made abundantly clear, he has a long-standing interest in this issue and has done a lot of work on it over the past decade. I welcome this opportunity to respond, and I will address as many of the points that he and others made as I can in this reduced time.

First and foremost, I want to express my total disgust at cases of modern slavery and human trafficking. The Government are steadfast in our determination to prevent these heinous crimes from happening, to support genuine victims and to bring perpetrators to justice. This is an ever-evolving threat, and our policy levers need to keep pace with changing trends.

I pay tribute to the previous Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), and the former Member of this House, Anthony Steen. I second the comments from my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough, who thanked my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead for all her work on the landmark Modern Slavery Act, and Anthony Steen, who was one of the early advocates in this field and is now the chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation. I thank them and all others who have contributed to our efforts in this space.

The former Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), worked very hard on this issue for three and a half years. I recall that in one of the first meetings I had with her when I was a new MP, she talked about upstream work and about looking internationally. Her work in this field required foresight and effort. We must not forget to thank those who have worked hard on this issue.

I was going to outline in detail the difference between human trafficking and people smuggling, but I do not need to because my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough did that most eloquently—I will save half a minute by skipping over that page. Instead, I will talk about the progress that has been made on prosecutions. Many Members have emphasised the need to increase prosecutions. It is shocking that there were only 188 live operations in 2016, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham will recall. That rose to 3,724 live investigations in February 2023. The Government have made real progress, and we continue to be committed to improving the criminal justice response to modern slavery and to ensuring that law enforcement has the right tools and capability to identify victims and tackle offenders.

Prosecutions have increased since the MSA came into force, other than in 2020 when there was a decrease due to courts closing during the covid pandemic. In 2021, the Government prosecuted 466 individuals for modern slavery crimes, with a conviction rate of more than 70%. Those with an interest in criminal justice will know that that is high. The Government have granted more than £1.3 million of funding to the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime unit, which operates out of Devon and Cornwall police, and have supported the development of national infrastructure to bring consistency across forces. There has also been a significant increase in activity since the Modern Slavery Act came into force, leading to better identification, information and evidence, and an increase in live investigations, prosecutions and, importantly, convictions.

Notwithstanding that success, there is a great deal more to do. The Government recognise that there are still challenges in the criminal justice system, which is why we are continuing to do more with law enforcement generally and the Crown Prosecution Service, including identifying ways of supporting victims to engage with prosecutions to help bring the exploiter to justice.

In addition, the Human Trafficking Foundation’s lived experience advisory panel will work with the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime unit. I hope that this collaboration will help to enhance guidance and ensure that the police take account of victim and survivor experience. I am grateful to Justice and Care for its work in this field, and to the victim navigators. We welcome their use by law enforcement agencies across the UK.

It is hoped and expected, through intense preparation, that the Online Safety Bill will assist in this area. The Government will add section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act to the list of priority offences in the Bill. That section makes it an offence to arrange or facilitate the travel of another person, including through recruitment, with a view to their exploitation.

Right hon. and hon. Members said that sentencing needs to be looked at and raised concerns about the low level of sentences handed down by courts relative to other offences. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including a maximum life sentence for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims, and following consultation in August 2021, the Sentencing Council published new sentencing guidelines for those convicted of modern slavery in England and Wales, but further progress is needed. Judges and magistrates now have clear dedicated guidelines when sentencing adult offenders who are guilty of offences under the 2015 Act, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and trafficking for the purposes of exploitation. The new guidelines came into effect in October 2021 and aim to promote consistency of approach, improve the general area and help the courts to pass appropriate sentences when dealing with modern slavery offences.

[Sarah Champion]

Will the Minister give way?

[Miss Dines]

I will make a little progress. I will mention at this point that I listened carefully to the hon. Member for Champion—[Interruption.] Sorry, the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion)—I will be reminded about that later by my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Alexander Stafford). The hon. Lady has done some hard work on this subject, and I took a clear note of what she said. I will give way to her briefly, but there really is not much time.

[Sarah Champion]

The focus on sentencing is very welcome, but is the Minister also focusing on the pull factor? Women coming over tend to be sexually exploited, and men are going into, for example, cannabis farms. If we could be tougher and put legislation around the pull factor, rather than just dealing with the outcomes, that would be really helpful in preventing this awful crime.

[Miss Dines]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is exactly about the pull factor, and not necessarily just because of gender-specific professions or exploitation, such as cannabis farms or the sexual arena. We must be careful about the pull factor; when he was giving evidence yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the pull factor is a big factor and we must be careful. When concerns are expressed about changing the present regime, as has been elucidated over the past two days in the main Chamber, we must be cautious because, as the Prime Minister said, we do not want to create a pull factor, whether it is for children or a particular class or group of individuals who may be running the criminal activities or being exploited in the way that the hon. Lady said. That is really important.

I know that cuckooing is close to the hearts of several Members who have spoken today, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price). The Government fully recognise the exploitation and degradation associated with that pernicious practice and are determined to tackle it. The Home Office-funded National County Lines Co-ordination Centre has identified all national law enforcement initiatives designed to tackle cuckooing, and the Government are actively considering whether new legislation is needed. It is an important item under consideration, because it is a most dreadful crime. We really need to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The Government’s recently issued antisocial behaviour action plan will engage stakeholders, and I am hopeful that there will be a new criminal offence in this area.

I know that hon. Members also feel keenly about victim support. The United Kingdom continues to meet its obligations to support victims of modern slavery as a signatory of the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings, or ECAT. The support given by this Government is unparalleled, and indeed a world leader, valued at over £300 million over a five-year period. As we all know, the Home Office funds the modern slavery victim care contract, which supports victims in England and Wales to give them access to vital support they need to assist with their recovery. That includes, as has been mentioned today, access to safehouse accommodation, financial support and a dedicated support worker.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the national referral mechanism effectively supports both victims to recover and the prosecution of their exploiters. Statistics show that the better someone is supported, the more likely they are to give evidence and bring their exploiter to justice through the Crown. We made it clear in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022—as a former Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham, is keenly aware of this—that where a public authority, such as the police, is pursuing an investigation or criminal proceedings, confirmed victims who co-operate and need to remain in the UK in order to do so will be granted temporary permission to stay for as long as they are required to be in the UK to support the investigation.

I will turn briefly—I have only three minutes left—to child victims. Concern has been voiced that adults get better care, and there appears to be some evidence of that and of care being patchy across the country. That must be addressed by local authorities, other stakeholders and mental health services. As the safeguarding Minister, I am concerned if young people are less effectively protected when they are in the care of the state. Sometimes children are less protected than adults and that cannot be allowed to continue. The Government are working very hard and other options are being considered.

The Government have, to their credit, rolled out independent child trafficking guardians to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales, but more needs to be done. Those guardians are an effective and additional source of advice for trafficked children, and they can advocate on the children’s behalf. We know from the debate that that approach has been successful. A staggered approach to roll-out has been adopted, with robust built-in evaluations along the way to make sure the service meets the demands of vulnerable children. That must evolve to do better.

We will continue to review how the needs of individual children are best met through the programme. We must not allow children to be taken away from a place of safety—a children’s home or a foster placement—to be abused and then brought back in. That simply cannot be tolerated. Local authorities must work harder and in close co-operation with the police. Across the country, there must be no area—ethnic or geographical—where standards are not good. We will work harder to protect child victims.

In the debate, right hon. and hon. Members said clearly that a commissioner must be appointed. The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and has launched a new open competition to recruit for the role. The advert for the role went live last month and the advertising has just concluded. The process is going as quickly as possible. It is hoped that all necessary steps will be taken in a short period and that the best person for the role will be recruited. There will be news very soon. The position has improved from a few months ago when there was not even a competition. I can reassure the House that there is movement in that area.

In our modern slavery strategy, we are still regarded as a world leader. The Illegal Migration Bill is essential to make sure that our borders are properly protected and that criminal gangs do not bring people into exploitation. There is a need for reform. I need to wind up, so I cannot say as much as I wanted to, but I will say that there will be protection, and vulnerable people will not be removed unless the disqualifications under the Nationality and Borders Act apply. I am able to commit to a meeting, as hon. Members asked.

The points raised by my right hon. Friends the Members for Maidenhead and for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) were addressed in yesterday’s debate by the Minister for Immigration, who stated that there is evidence that, unfortunately, the Modern Slavery Act has enabled some false applications. The 3,500 referrals envisaged on the passing of the Act have risen to 17,000 referrals and there is evidence of abuse of the system. In 2021, 73% of people who arrived on small boats and were detained for removal made modern slavery claims, so more needs to be done, but I can commit to ensure that genuine victims are discussed in a meeting with the Immigration Minister and interested parties.

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

Peter Bone has less than one minute to wind up.