Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism received a reasonable grounds decision within five working days, and what the timeframe was for the remainder of the referrals in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is responsible for publishing National Referral Mechanism (NRM) data and does so on a quarterly basis.

The NCA does not publish data about the timescales for reaching reasonable grounds or conclusive grounds decisions. No NRM decisions are made during a potential victim’s 45 day reflection and recovery period.

Published data on the referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is available via the following link:
http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

Further information is also available in the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/749346/2018_UK_Annual_Report_on_Modern_Slavery.pdf which was published on 18 October 2018.