Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that British companies found to have supply chains that involve modern slavery receive adequate penalties.

The landmark transparency provisions contained in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 made the UK the first country in the world to require businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The prevalence of modern slavery and complexity of global supply chains means that it is highly unlikely that any sector or company is immune from the risks of modern slavery. Section 54 therefore does not require organisations to certify that their supply chains are ‘slavery free’ or require the Government to verify the content of modern slavery statements.

The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made.

Under the current provisions of section 54, if an organisation does not comply with their legal requirements in relation to producing a modern slavery statement, the Home Secretary can apply for an injunction to enforce compliance.

To enhance the impact of transparency and accelerate action to prevent modern slavery, in the September 2020 Government response to the Transparency in Supply Chains consultation the Government committed to strengthening the reporting requirements contained in section 54. In January 2021 the Foreign Secretary announced that financial penalties will be introduced for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. These measures require primary legislation and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

The Government will publish guidance to help organisations prepare for the new reporting requirements when timings of legislation are clear.