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.

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:

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.