Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that companies operating in the UK are carrying out robust due diligence to identify and prevent modern slavery practices within their operations and supply chains.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s current approach to tackling forced labour in global supply chains is focused on driving transparency. Section 54 of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish modern slavery statements.
The Government launched a review in the Trade Strategy, into the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct, focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains.
The review is progressing and is considering the effectiveness of the UK’s current regime and the merits of alternative measures to support responsible business practices, including mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. We shall update the House when the review is complete.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in preventing the exploitation of vulnerable individuals within large commercial organisations.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The government is committed to tackling modern slavery, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report on how they are tackling modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. Section 54 has helped bring greater awareness of modern slavery in boardrooms across the country, but it is clear a decade after the Act, the UK’s approach to tackling labour exploitation needs to evolve.
The government is currently conducting a review of Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) policy. The RBC review will consider the effectiveness of the current UK regime and alternative means of supporting responsible business practices, including consideration of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence laws and import controls on goods made by forced labour.
The Government is also establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA). The FWA will bring under one roof multiple agencies and bodies to ensure a more cohesive and streamlined response to exploitation. The FWA will have enhanced powers and resources to identify and address labour exploitation more effectively. It will be a strong, recognisable brand so individuals know where to go for help.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation in the UK; and what additional measures are being taken to strengthen protections for victims and increase successful prosecutions.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all the levers available to us to deliver this ambition. This is why the recently published Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy includes a series of measures to tackle sexual exploitation and to better support victims and survivors.
Victims of sexual exploitation make up a large proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism. The most recent annual statistics show that in 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (3,266) of all referrals. Of these, the majority of those referred were females (79%; 2,564).
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement activity aimed at tackling modern slavery threats and targeting prolific perpetrators. Also, the National Police Lead for modern slavery is leading Project Turnstone, which will develop a new framework for investigating modern slavery and includes a suite of products to guide forces to identify and tackle sexual exploitation.
To support victims to escape and recover from their exploitation, the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of exploitation and trafficking in England and Wales. This support includes safe accommodation where necessary, financial support and a support worker to help them access wider support services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
We recently ran a public Call for Evidence on how the Government can improve the process of identifying victims of modern slavery, including for victims who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Following analysis of the responses from this Call for Evidence, we will consider whether any future policy changes are needed.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prosecutions for modern slavery offences have been brought in the past five years; and what measures are in place to improve victim identification and access to justice.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government is committed to tackling modern slavery, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.
The data on the number of modern slavery prosecutions is published by the Crown Prosecution Service and the available data shows that between 2019 and 2024 there were:
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Convictions | 251 | 197 | 332 | 282 | 311 | 353 |
Non-convictions | 98 | 70 | 134 | 123 | 99 | 101 |
Total prosecuted | 349 | 267 | 466 | 405 | 410 | 454 |
The National Police Chief Council Lead for modern slavery is developing a national investigations framework to strengthen police forces’ ability to identify, disrupt and bring to justice the perpetrators behind this crime.
The Home Office has also committed to reviewing the modern slavery system in the Restoring Order and Control Statement to ensure that we have the right protections for those who need it. This will build on the responses we received to a Call for Evidence on the victim identification system which closed in October. The Home Office is now analysing the responses received and we will consider the evidence gathered to explore any further changes that could be made to improve the identification of victims.
Furthermore, potential victims of modern slavery with a positive Reasonable or Conclusive Grounds decision have access to legal aid, this includes criminal and civil legal aid, legal aid for immigration advice, advice on an asylum claim, employment law advice and for a civil claim of damages.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to address cases where DWP staff meet the annual Skilled Worker Visa salary threshold but are affected by the method used to calculate hourly pay.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
When assessing salaries for visa purposes, our approach is consistent with that taken in national minimum wage guidance, which states:
‘If you pay a salaried worker their normal salary while they are absent from work and this forms a part of their employment contract, the time of the absence counts towards the worker’s time worked for minimum wage purposes. For example, during rest breaks, lunch breaks, holidays, sickness absence or maternity / paternity / adoption leave.’
We do not plan to change our approach, as it could open up inconsistencies with wider employment regulation.
A decision on whether to amend employment contracts, so that salaries reflect the actual hours worked, would be for an employer to make.