Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations he has received from (a) the National Crime Agency, (b) the Metropolitan Police, (c) the British Transport police, (d) any other arm of law enforcement, (e) local authorities and (f) charities and NGOs on reviewing the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the way it is applied to county lines.

The Government has asked Frank Field MP, Maria Miller MP and Baroness-Butler-Sloss to undertake an independent review of the Modern Slavery Act. The aim of the Review is to report on the operation and effectiveness of, and potential improvements to, provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which provides the legal framework for tackling modern slavery.

The Review will consider how to ensure the Act is ‘future-proof’ given our evolving understanding of the nature of modern slavery offences, for example the recent and emerging issues of county lines. The Review is aiming to report by the end of March 2019.

Details of the Review were set out in Victoria Atkins written statement of 5th September.