Committee of Public Accounts, Thirty-Sixth Report of Session 2017–19

Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude and compulsory labour and human trafficking. In 2014 the UK Home Office (the Department) estimated that there were between 10,000 and 13,000 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK in 2013, and in 2013 it estimated that the overall social and economic cost to the UK of human trafficking for sexual exploitation alone was £890 million. The Department introduced the Modern Slavery Strategy in 2014 with the aim of significantly reducing the prevalence of modern slavery. This was followed by the Modern Slavery Act in 2015. While the Department is the policy lead for managing the UK’s response to modern slavery, a range of public sector organisations are involved in delivering the strategy, alongside businesses and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The Department funds and manages the process for identifying victims, known as the National Referral Mechanism. It also manages a contract for support services for potential victims of modern slavery in England and Wales, currently run by the Salvation Army.

It has taken too long to learn what works in the system, to understand the complexities of the crime and to turn the strategy and the Modern Slavery Act into an effective and co-ordinated approach across government. Government does not yet have the data or systems to understand the crime, the demographics and circumstances of the victims and the perpetrators, making the digitisation of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) a priority. Nor does it know how much money it spends tackling modern slavery or what success looks like, meaning it cannot establish whether its strategy is working or how it should prioritise its actions. Potential victims are waiting far too long for a decision on whether they will be treated as a victim of modern slavery, causing further distress and anxiety to vulnerable people. The Department has not put in place minimum care standards and it does not inspect the level of care provided to potential victims, so it does not know whether or not victims are receiving adequate care. The Department also does not know what happens to victims after they have gone through the system and whether, for example, they have been trafficked again.

Reducing Modern Slavery - House of Commons, 2018 DOWNLOAD

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

wp_template

wp_template_part

wp_global_styles

wp_navigation

wp_font_family

wp_font_face

acf-taxonomy

acf-post-type

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

exactmetrics_note

Gender-Responsive Self-Assessment Tool for Recruitment Agencies
Guidance

This self-assessment tool was developed to ensure employers, governments and recruitment agencies have policies, codes of conduct, systems and training in place that effectively meet the needs of women migrant workers. The tool was developed by UN W...Read More

Nothing about us, without us
Guidance

This guidance is intended to support local and national policy makers in government, business and public services who wish to involve survivors of modern slavery in their work, whether that be in developing policy, legislation and guidance, or shapi...Read More

Explanatory Report to the Guidelines Regarding the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
Guidance

On 30 May 2019, during its 81st session, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) adopted its first ever Guidelines for the implementation of one of the legal instruments included under its monitoring mandate. The Guidelines ...Read More

TAGS:
Recommendations: Protection of women human rights defenders at risk in migration contexts
GuidanceGood Practices

These recommendations focus on women human rights defenders at risk in migration contexts (hereinafter, migrant women human rights defenders)–that is, women, girls and gender-diverse persons of all ages who promote and protect the human rights of ...Read More

TAGS: