Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in what way the provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2016 will support child advocates.

Section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 introduced independent child trafficking advocates to be available to represent and support children where there are reasonable grounds to believe they may be victims of human trafficking. It requires public authorities to recognise and pay due regard to the functions of the advocate and provide the advocate with access to information about the child so that the advocate can carry out these functions effectively.

In line with the requirements of Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Government laid a report before Parliament in December 2015 setting out the steps we proposed to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates. The full report can be obtained here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-child-trafficking-advocates-trial-government-report

Since December 2015, we have worked to address issues identified during the trial. We have engaged with Members of both Houses, the offices of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Children’s Commissioner for England. We have also sought views from the voluntary sector and statutory organisations in England and Wales. This engagement has been valuable in assessing how best to deliver an improved service for trafficked children in England and Wales.

As part of this engagement, I wrote to the Chairs of the three All Party Parliamentary Groups with the strongest interest in the trial in March, saying that I would wait to receive their views in writing before making a statement to the House about how we will proceed. I have now received letters from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. I am reflecting on their recommendations and will provide an update to Parliament once we have had an opportunity to consider their valuable input.