Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government has allocated to the NSPCC's Modern Slavery helpline in financial year (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16; how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by that helpline; how many calls the helpline has received; and how much funding the Government plans to allocate to the helpline in 2016-17.

The NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline was launched in July 2014, as part of a wider awareness-raising campaign, to better support potential victims of modern slavery. For the financial year 2014-15, £35,000 was made available to the NSPCC to run the modern slavery helpline and, in 2015-16, £15,000 was made available.

The NSPCC run Modern Slavery helpline does not employ dedicated staff. Instead, training was provided to existing NSPCC call handlers by existing staff in the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre, the Metropolitan Police’s Human Trafficking Unit and the Modern Slavery Unit. For the period 31 July 2014 to 11 February 2016 the helpline received 1,005 contacts.

No funding has been allocated for the financial year 2016-17. Polaris, a US-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), is establishing an enhanced UK helpline in collaboration with a UK-based NGO, which will supersede the current NSPCC helpline. The new helpline will provide increased analytical capability and is expected to be in operation later this year.