Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 11 March (HL1941), how much money has been allocated to fund Independent Child Trafficking Guardians for this (1) financial year, and (2) the next two financial years.

Last year, the Government successfully rolled out Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) to one third of local authorities in England and Wales.

The continued national roll-out of ICTGs will be progressed as part of the recently established NRM Transformation Programme, which is designed to make sure we have a system that effectively identifies and delivers needs-based support for child and adult victims of modern slavery, is legally robust, sustainable and resilient to misuse. We will continue to review how the needs of individual children are best met at local level through the programme.

This financial year, the Home Office has allocated approximately £1.6m to the provision of Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) in the existing six early adopter sites. Home Office budget allocations for 2021/22 and 2022/23 will be determined in the next Spending Review.