Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of British children confirmed as having been trafficked for sex and labour outside the UK in each year since 2010.

The Department for Education works closely with the Home Office and other Departments on a range of policies and practices to promote children’s safeguarding and protection. This includes cross-Government work to tackle trafficking and modern slavery, where the Department’s main focus is on prevention and support for victims.

Effective safeguarding from all forms of abuse depends upon good multi-agency working and the statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ [1], sets out the roles and responsibilities of the relevant local services, while ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education (2014)'[2] provides corresponding statutory guidance for schools, colleges and their staff.

In July 2014 we issued revised guidance, ‘Care of unaccompanied and trafficked children’, which sets out the steps local authorities should take to plan support for children who become looked after as a result of being identified as victims of trafficking.[3]

The Department does not hold information on the number of British children trafficked outside the UK. The National Crime Agency holds information on the number of children reported to the National Referral System, which includes those trafficked within the UK.[4]

[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children

[2] www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education

[3]www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330787/Careofunaccompaniedandtrafficked_children.pdf

[4]www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/139-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-2013/file