Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of aligning the statutory guidance entitled 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, published on 2 June 2025, with (a) the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and (b) other international regulations in the context of assessments of whether a person is likely to be a victim of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and is intended as a means of fulfilling certain obligations from the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT).

The Home Office publishes relevant statutory guidance, legislation and national strategies to support professionals to identify and support victims, including those who have experienced sexual exploitation.

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 was updated in May 2024 to aid Competent Authority decision makers within the NRM process to more clearly indicate exploitative scenarios, and as such identify sexual exploitation victims of modern slavery for the purpose of the NRM.

The Government is fully committed to identifying, supporting and protecting victims, and tackling the devastating harm associated with modern slavery, including sexual exploitation, and keeps all policies and processes under review.