Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the final report of the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, published on 22 May 2019, and the Interim Guidance for Independent Child Trafficking Guardians, updated on 18 November 2021, how many children and young people who had someone with parental responsibility were supported with one-to-one support from the Independent Child Trafficking Guardians service between January and September; how many young people had support from the Independent Child Trafficking Guardians service continued after their 18th birthday, between January and September; and when they intend to publish evaluations of the tests of those models.

Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) operate in two thirds of local authorities across England and Wales, in addition to the statutory support provided to children by local authorities.

ICTGs provide an additional source of advice and support for potentially trafficked children, irrespective of nationality, and somebody to advocate on their behalf to ensure their best interests are reflected in the decision-making of the public authorities involved in their care.

The ICTG service model provides one-to-one support for children with no parental responsibility for them in the UK via an ICTG Direct Worker and an expert ICTG Regional Practice Co-ordinator for children where there is someone with parental responsibility for them in the UK.

The data requested regarding ICTGs for the timeframe specified has not previously been published and has not yet been verified. We are therefore unable to release the information at this time.

Data tables published in November 2021 in the UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery: 2021 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery (accessible version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab) show the numbers of children referred to Direct Workers and Regional Practice Coordinators, broken down by region, in 2019 and 2020.

To date, two evaluations on the ICTG service have been published: An evaluation of Independent Child Trafficking Guardians - early adopter sites: Final report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and An assessment of Independent Child Trafficking Guardians - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There are currently no plans to publish the evaluation report of changes to the ICTG service from the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.