Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Mr Bone]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we discover something in this House, as he says, we correct it. We do not just say, “We are not going to use that product.” We go back and improve the situation, which is entirely the right approach.

It is not good enough that we do not have an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. The only conclusion that people can draw is that the Home Office does not want independent scrutiny of human trafficking. I cannot see any other reason for it. In 2022, almost 17,000 potential victims of human trafficking were referred to the national referral mechanism—an increase of 33% on the previous year. Last year, the average number of days that a victim waited for a conclusive grounds decision was 543. That is an improvement on the previous year, when it was 560-odd days. In about 100 years’ time, we will probably get it down to an acceptable level. We are creating a huge backlog in the system and stretching the resources available to support survivors of human trafficking.

In last year’s Queen’s Speech, the Government promised a new modern slavery Bill. In addition, a new modern slavery strategy had been promised in spring 2021. That was in response to the 2019 independent review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which suggested improvements. To date, neither the Bill nor the strategy has been forthcoming. The independent review had four main topics of focus, one of which was the safeguarding of child victims of modern slavery. That issue has long been a source of personal frustration to me.

As I have said, almost 80% of UK nationals referred to the NRM are children. The situation regarding the safeguarding of children who may have been trafficked is unique, in that the provision of care for trafficked adults is far better than that for trafficked children. Where else in Government do we look after adults better than children? I made that point during my Westminster Hall debate over 10 years ago. I recounted how in 2010 I went to a safe home in the Philippines, where there were children who had been trafficked and had experienced the worst kind of abuse—in the Philippines it was largely prostitution. They received specialist support and went to school. They were in a safe environment, and after a few years, they left a changed person. In fact, I had the great pleasure of attending a wedding of a former trafficked child who had gone through that process. There is no reason why this country could not offer the same standard of care. We should learn from best practice elsewhere, and could offer more specialist support and rehabilitation to trafficked children in this country.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate and for everything that he is saying, which I reinforce. I had a meeting with the International Justice Mission a couple of weeks ago, which has been working in India for 20 years. It has created child advocates—effectively magistrates. When they find a trafficked child, they go into the care of the advocacy group, which makes sure that all the support services, police and justice services do their duty by that child. Does he agree that that is a really useful model that we could learn from?

[Mr Bone]

I will talk a little about that, and what the Government are doing for children. Unfortunately, it is not working. I will come to that.

In this country, child victims of trafficking are treated similarly to any other at-risk child, and are under the primary care of local authorities. That often means that they are placed in care with non-trafficked children, where security and staff observation is limited. They are supposed to have an independent child trafficking guardian. That does not work, and still does not apply in all areas of the country. I say it does not work; I will explain further a little later, but too many of the children disappear and are re-trafficked. They go missing from local authority care. That does not happen under the system for looking after adult victims of trafficking. In 2020, Every Child Protected Against Trafficking UK, which originally provided the secretariat to the APPG on human trafficking and modern slavery, found that one third of trafficked children go missing from local authority care. The average number of “missing” episodes per child was eight—significantly higher than for other children in local authority care.

I am describing a system where a child who has been subject to trafficking and horrific child abuse is put into a children’s home with other non-trafficked children and has no increased security. The child abusers can locate the child and traffic them all over again. The criminal gangs have got even smarter: if there is good access to the home, they bring it into their business model. They leave the children in the children’s home—that is free accommodation and food—and take them away on demand to be used as prostitutes. Then they return them to the home. How can that possibly, in any way, be right? In effect, local government is inadvertently becoming a partner of the human trafficking business. That is frankly a scandalous failure in our duty of care to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

By contrast, when it comes to adults, the Salvation Army has been the prime contractor for what is apparently called the Government’s modern slavery victim care contract for the last 11 years. When that started, the Salvation Army became the overarching body in charge. The trick that the Government did—this is a great credit to them—was not to give the money to the Salvation Army to spend, but to ensure that it worked with partners across the UK, including groups interested in looking after victims of human trafficking and, quite often, faith groups. That added value produced a really successful way of looking after adult victims of human trafficking. They get support with accommodation, translation services, financial subsistence, and transport, as well as bespoke support based on victims’ needs, which is administered by the Salvation Army and its partners. Without doubt, we look after adult victims better than child victims.

It is absolutely crucial that we give world-leading care to both adult and child victims, both from a compassionate perspective, and to prevent re-trafficking and encourage survivors to help bring the evil criminals to justice. The charity Justice and Care has pioneered the introduction of victim navigators. Importantly, victim navigators are independent of but integrated with police officers working on modern slavery cases. Victim navigators have access to the relevant police systems and can share information with victims, which builds trust and frees up police time. Victim navigators take on the responsibilities related to survivor support, meeting survivors’ needs and keeping them updated on the criminal investigation. The navigators have helped to safely repatriate 32 survivors to 17 different countries, and find local contacts in those countries that can continue to provide support.

Justice and Care victim navigators benefit from the relationship and partnership with the police but retain their independence, giving survivors a more assessable ally at the point of rescue. This work has been extraordinarily successful: 92% of victims supported by a navigator were willing to engage on some level with police, and victims who had access to the services of navigators were five times more likely to engage in supporting a prosecution than were victims in a sample of non-navigator-supported cases. Hon. Members should not take my word for it. One survivor said:

“He’s done everything for me. Every bit of support I’ve needed. If it weren’t for”

the navigator,

“I would have been lost honestly…If I didn’t have”

the navigator,

“I wouldn’t have gone through with the case. I wouldn’t have had the strength I had to do it…I couldn’t have done it without him.”

An awful lot of people—from the left, I have to say—want to look after the victims of human trafficking, and that is an honourable thing to do. Having a right-wing chairman was a problem for the left-wing members of the all-party group, but I said to them: “Let’s stop people being victims. I would rather stop them becoming victims than look after them after they have gone through huge abuse.” One way of doing that is prosecuting these evil criminal gangs. The victim navigator service was independently evaluated between September 2018 and June 2022 and was found to be so successful that the independent evaluators recommended that it be rolled out nationwide.

In 2021, there were 93 prosecutions and 33 convictions for modern slavery offences, as a principal offence, under the Modern Slavery Act. On an all-offence basis, including where modern slavery charges are brought alongside more serious charges, there were 342 prosecutions and 114 convictions. Hon. Members might say that that is good, but it is actually shockingly poor. There were 9,661 recorded modern slavery crimes in 2021-22; in fact, the National Crime Agency estimates that between 6,000 and 8,000 offenders are involved in modern slavery crimes in the UK. Victim navigators will clearly help to increase the prosecution rate, but modern slavery is currently a low-risk, high-reward crime, and low prosecutions are not the only indicator of that.

Analysing sentencing is crucial to understanding the outcomes for modern slavery offenders. In 2021, fewer than one third of offenders with modern slavery as a principal offence received a custodial sentence of four years or more. In the past five years, no offender with modern slavery as a principal offence has received a life sentence, and only one has received a sentence of more than 15 years. The average custodial sentence for modern slavery offences in 2021 was four years and one month. That is less than half that recorded for rape, yet the young women forced into brothels as victims of human trafficking are, effectively, repeatedly raped. On a sentence of four years and one month, the person will probably be out within two years. If we do not get serious about prosecuting, the police can break up more modern slavery networks, which they are very good at, and the victim navigators can support victims properly to bring the case to trial, but their hard work will be undermined by poor prosecutions.

I said that this debate is not about the Illegal Migration Bill, but I hope you will forgive me for going back on that a bit, Mr Betts. Without getting too entrenched in a discussion of the Bill, I must say that I fully support the Government’s ambition to end the small boats crisis. That is the No. 1 issue for my constituents in Wellingborough, and it is absolutely vital that we stop the boats. Although I established a clear distinction between people smuggling and human trafficking, there are some things that unite them. Those running both evil trades regard people entirely as commodities; they care nothing for the lives they destroy or endanger.

Returning those who have been illegally smuggled into the UK to their country of origin or a safe third country is essential to dismantling the business model of the evil people smugglers. However, in doing that, we must be careful that we do not undermine protections for genuine victims. Victims of modern slavery who are rescued from abuse in this country must have the security that they will not face deportation as a consequence of coming forward. Many foreign nationals rescued from modern slavery in the UK want to return to their country of origin and familiar support networks, and have done so, and that is fine; they should be supported in doing that. However, the threat of deportation may undermine efforts to bring about prosecutions, by deterring victims from coming forward.

Some survivors’ immigration status may have become irregular while they were under the control of traffickers, perhaps due to a visa expiring. Others may have arrived in the country illegally, and their abusers may use the threat of deportation to continue to exert control over them. The Illegal Migration Bill needs to make a distinction between those who are identified on arrival at the UK as having been trafficked, and those who are identified as such later. We must not do anything that stops support being given to those who have been moved to the UK and suffered abuse, who have clearly been trafficked.

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 established temporary leave to remain for confirmed victims of human trafficking, as is absolutely right. That should not be, effectively, overridden by the Illegal Migration Bill, and I hope the Minister can reassure me on that point—my right hon. Friends the Members for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) raised similar concerns yesterday in Committee on the Bill. Will the Minister be so good as to meet me and other concerned Members before the Bill’s Report and Third Reading?

Finally, I thank the Government for the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and all the things we have done to protect victims of human trafficking. We lead Europe in this regard, and that is fantastic. I just want to ensure that that continues and that we do not move backwards in any way.

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[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

May I put on record my deep thanks to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone)? He has championed this cause for years, when many others really did not want to. We are talking about a dirty and disgusting business—and it is a business. I am grateful for all that he has done and continues to do to put the profile of this awful crime exactly where it needs to be.

I rise to raise my concerns about the Government’s current approach to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking, particularly through the so-called Illegal Migration Bill; regrettably, it completed its Committee stage yesterday, which makes today’s debate timely. I could have chosen so many topics. The hon. Member spoke about prostituted women; I completely agree that we have to stop the pull factor, which is the fact that it is still legal to buy sex in this country. I could have spoken about child sexual exploitation, which unfortunately I know far too much about, or child criminal exploitation. The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) spoke a little about child labour in the supply chain, and children working at brick kilns. I was in Nepal with the International Development Committee a couple of weeks ago, and we met those very children. I am really proud that some of our foreign aid goes on supporting those children and letting them know their rights, and, most importantly, on working with the employers, because it tends to be small businesses that still use children in modern slavery. Our aid goes on educating employers and encouraging them to change their practices.

However, let me focus on the UK. Many professionals are troubled by the Government’s rhetoric, as well as the Illegal Migration Bill, which conflates modern slavery with migration, asylum and smuggling. The International Justice Mission states that conflating those issues risks hindering efforts to assist survivors and ensure traffickers are held to account. It only makes this problem worse.

I was very proud in 2015, when the UK was genuinely a world leader in tackling modern slavery, with the unprecedented Modern Slavery Act. I was on the Bill Committee, and it was genuinely world-changing. People came from all over the world to see what we were doing, although the hon. Member for Wellingborough is right that children were always an omission and not supported properly.

That pride feels light years away from where we are today. The measures in the Illegal Migration Bill, particularly in relation to modern slavery survivors, are deeply disturbing, cruel and lacking in compassion and common sense. I cannot imagine how terrifying it must be to be trafficked to this county against one’s will, as well as, in many cases, being a victim of sexual exploitation or modern slavery.

We must remember that modern slavery and trafficking also happen in the UK. I referred to child exploitation: in Rotherham, the police innovatively used trafficking legislation, because it says that moving a person from one side of the street to the other is trafficking. We have strong legislation in place for that; it is just not being enforced as often as it should be, and nor is the national referral mechanism. I was disappointed in the early days of that scheme that many local authorities were not referring local people into that support network.

The Government now want to refuse vulnerable people vital protections that we put into law less than eight years ago. The Illegal Migration Bill would disqualify victims of trafficking and modern slavery from protections under the national referral mechanism and deny crucial support to those who arrived in the UK through irregular means, allowing them to be removed entirely from this country. That includes child victims of trafficking whose family members meet those conditions.

Almost 90% of modern slavery claims are found to be valid, meaning that these new provisions will remove support from genuine victims who need our help. The reality is that this will not prevent traffickers, and it certainly will not help victims of modern slavery. I am especially worried about the impact that this will have on victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that survivors are unlikely to report crimes of sexual and gender-based violence or trafficking, without legal protections or safe reporting mechanisms that protect them from immigration exposure.

If the Government really want to stop the boats, they must first protect victims and survivors of trafficking, slavery and sexual exploitation, to end the traffickers’ business model. Instead, this Bill will punish only the victims. Case studies from the University of Birmingham’s SEREDA project demonstrate why survivors of sexual violence, in particular, must be exempt from removal to other so-called safe countries.

Samiah fled Algeria after being raped by an influential man in the Algerian army and, facing pressure from her family, married her rapist. Her sister sold her jewellery to pay for Samiah’s passage to safety. Samiah passed through France on the way to the UK but, given the large Algerian population there, and the threat from both her family and the man who attacked her, she did not feel France was safe enough to offer her protection.

When she arrived in the UK, she had no idea of her rights, and slept rough in Victoria station. She was befriended by a man who gave her alcohol for the first time in her life, and she was raped again, becoming pregnant. She was taken in by a stranger, who helped her find a lawyer, and told she should put in a claim for asylum. Samiah’s case illustrates why it is vital that victims of sexual and gender-based violence must have access to support, no matter how they arrive here. Not all forced migrants feel safe in the first safe country they pass through. The vulnerability of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence will be preyed on even more without the relative protections of the asylum and national referral mechanisms.

The previous Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner warned repeatedly that denying trafficking victims support makes it harder, not easier, to catch criminal traffickers. Why will the Minister not listen to experts, and protect the victims, rather than the traffickers? Such vast changes to our modern slavery policy should not take place at a time when the UK’s new anti-slavery commissioner has not been appointed. With the role remaining vacant for almost a year, it is deeply concerning that we have lost an independent voice, expert insight and essential scrutiny of the UK’s approach to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking.

Will the Minister confirm in her response when the new Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner will be appointed? Will the Home Office commit to consult the new commissioner before pushing ahead with these new measures? I am proud that Labour voted against some of the measures in the Bill, because we are on the side of the victims. I am one of those people from the left who want to support victims, but I am also one of those people from the left who want to stop the business model of these traffickers and modern slavery owners. We have to do all we can, in a united way, to make that happen.

--- Later in debate ---

[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.