Slavery

(asked on 6th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which agencies are making referrals to the National Referral Mechanism.


Answered by
Victoria Atkins Portrait
Victoria Atkins
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This question was answered on 14th September 2021

Figures on the First Responder organisations making referrals into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the nationality of potential victims being referred, the gender of potential victims can be found in the published statistics.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). These include the average time taken to make a Country Guidance Decision. The latest published NRM statistics can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

As outlined in the Modern Slavery: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland, the expectation is that the Single Competent Authority (SCA) will make a Reasonable Grounds decision within five working days, where possible, of the NRM referral being received. Modern Slavery: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Following a positive Reasonable Grounds decision, and the minimum recovery and reflection period, the Single Competent Authority makes the Conclusive Grounds decision as soon as possible and only once there is sufficient information to do so. The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). These include the average time taken to make a Conclusive Grounds decision. The latest published NRM statistics can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

A First Responder Organisation is an authority that is authorised to refer a potential victim of modern slavery into the National Referral Mechanism. The list of First Responder Organisations can be found in the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland, which also sets out their roles and responsibilities.

The SCA is currently recruiting a large number of new decision makers across the UK to increase capacity for NRM decision-making and reduce decision making timescales; this brings additional resource pressures initially (for training and upskilling) but will have substantial long-term benefits for decision making timescales.

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