Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 23 November 2020 (HL10081), what training will be given to decision makers in the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority; and how this will differ from training for decision makers in the Single Competent Authority.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s system for identifying and providing access to support for potential victims of modern slavery.

Potential victims have their individual support needs assessed on entry to the NRM and through contact with their support worker. The Recovery Needs Assessment (RNA) is conducted after a positive Conclusive Grounds (CG) decision.

The RNA enables support workers to consider whether a victim has any ongoing recovery needs arising from their modern slavery experience.

The information requested on RNA data does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which can be found at gov.uk.

The 2021 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery has recently been published and contains an overview of key RNA trends for the year up to 31 July 2021. This report can also be found on gov.uk. The RNA process is kept under continual internal review. Our approach to victim support will be considered further as part of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy review which will be published next year.

There are 251.75 FTE decision makers working in the Single Competent Authority. There are 26.26 decision makers working within the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority. Both Competent Authorities carry a number of vacancies being filled through recruitment activity.

All decision makers across both Competent Authorities will receive consistent training on NRM decisions, Modern Slavery Discretionary leave decisions (as relevant) and on current statutory guidance. All decision makers will be held to the same standards across the Home Office.