Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to raise awareness of the signs of modern slavery, particularly in businesses such as (1) car washes, and (2) nail bars.

The Government is fully committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery, including when it manifests in car washes and nail bars to ensure those who commit these crimes are brought to justice.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) protects vulnerable and exploited workers and investigates all aspects of labour exploitation across all sectors in England and Wales. A key element of the GLAA’s role is to support businesses to prevent modern slavery. As set out in its annual business strategy, the GLAA lead engagement with businesses to highlight the risks of modern slavery, and how to spot the signs.

Car washes are a sector identified by the Director of Labour Market Enforcement as high risk of modern slavery and exploitative practice. The Home Office has funded two pilots of the Responsible Car Wash Scheme (RCWS) to examine the efficacy of industry led accreditation, and its code of practice, to raise compliance in hand car washes. RCWS worked closely with the GLAA and the Clewer Initiative on these pilots. We await independent evaluation reports of the pilots.

The GLAA is also working in partnership with the Clewer Initiative and Project Challenger from Greater Manchester to improve understanding of the scale and nature of modern slavery and exploitative practices in the nail bar industry. Findings from this work will help to inform future initiatives to prevent exploitation in this sector.