Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 2.4.55 of the 2021 UK annual report on modern slavery, what progress she has made on embedding the survivors’ voice in future policy on modern slavery.

The Government is committed to continuously strengthening our approach to modern slavery. Survivors hold a vital role in informing policy development, and we have worked to embed survivor voice in a number of ways.

In March 2021, the Government announced that it would be undertaking a review of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy. A revised strategy will allow us to build on the progress we have made to date, adapt our approach to the evolving nature of these crimes and continue our leadership in tackling modern slavery. As part of this work, we are considering further ways to embed survivor voice in our future policy-making and international programmes. We have engaged with survivors and survivor groups as we develop a new modern slavery strategy, including through our Modern Slavery Strategy Implementation Group. We are also in the process of commissioning research to inform the strategy, which will seek survivors’ views on their experiences of modern slavery and on the most appropriate ways to engage survivors in our future policy-making and international programmes.

We have worked with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct independent inspections of the services provided to victims of modern slavery under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC). During inspections CQC seek to engage with survivors to gather their views on the quality of safehouse accommodation and outreach services provided and to gain feedback on their experiences. Furthermore, there are processes embedded within the MSVCC which provide victims with the opportunity to raise complaints via the official MSVCC complaints procedure.

We also engage survivor groups through our regular stakeholder engagement on modern slavery policy.