Slavery

(asked on 15th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what expertise the NSPCC has in dealing with victims of slavery; and what criteria were set by her Department for the securing of the contract to run the modern slavery helpline.


Answered by
Karen Bradley Portrait
Karen Bradley
This question was answered on 28th July 2014

We are working closely with the NSPCC to pilot a Modern Slavery Helpline as part of a wider communications and marketing campaign, to raise awareness of modern slavery. The helpline will be established by the end of July 2014. We are working with a number of non-governmental organisations and law enforcement agencies to ensure that all callers to the helpline can access any additional help, advice and support they need.

Training will be provided to all call handlers working on the helpline, which will be delivered by the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice Centre and the
Metropolitan Police Service, building on their specific expertise and knowledge in this area. The training will include the nature of modern slavery, the information to be obtained from individuals who call the helpline as well as organisations that can provide further support and guidance. There are no specific costs to the Home Office associated with providing this training.

Each call to the helpline will be considered on a case-by-case basis and, where an individual requires further information or advice, the helpline call handlers will provide the details of other organisations for the caller to contact, as appropriate. This is regardless of whether the caller is from an EU or non-EU country.

Stakeholders, including NGOs, have been engaged in the communications and marketing campaign which underpins the helpline.
The NSPCC is ideally placed to deliver what we need given their existing infrastructure and expertise in safeguarding issues. The NSPCC runs a number of helplines, including Childline, FGM helpline and the Child Trafficking Advice Centre (CTAC) line. We have engaged NSPCC by means of a formal Grant Agreement, not a Contract, which will be managed using standard Home Office grant terms and conditions in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

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