Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reduced waiting times for conclusive grounds decisions in the National Referral Mechanism on modern slavery victims' recovery and access to support services.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This government is proud of our record to reduce the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) backlog and ensure victims of modern slavery receive certainty in a timely fashion. There has been a decrease to the backlog of 84% since the peak in 2022.
Adult victims receive support through the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) and through wider state services. Victims supported by the MSVCC will currently continue to receive support following a positive Conclusive Grounds decision where needs are identified through the Recovery Needs Assessment process. There is no overall limit on time in support.
The new Support for Victims of Modern Slavery contract (due to come into force in 2027) will further improve the needs-based support for adults.
Victims who receive a negative Conclusive Grounds decision will continue to be provided with up to 14 working days of move-on support from the date of receipt of the decision.
Child victims are supported through a range of systems, including statutory local authority support and the Government-funded Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service. ICTGs are currently available in two-thirds of Local Authorities, but from Spring 2027 they will be nationally available across England and Wales. There is no time limit on support provided to children and ICTG support will cease once the child has met one of the exit criteria set out within ICTG Interim Guidance.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to prevent domestic violence associated with drugs and alcohol use in homes with children.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We know that there is a correlation between domestic abuse and substance misuse, but domestic abuse is not caused by substance misuse.
This government is determined to safeguard victims by disrupting the behaviour of perpetrators through perpetrator interventions. The Home Office is investing ÂŁ74.5 million (until March 2029) for the Domestic Abuse and Stalking Perpetrator Intervention Fund.
Perpetratorsâ misuse of drugs and alcohol must be addressed to ensure domestic abuse interventions are efficient. This government continues to invest in local treatment and recovery systems with over ÂŁ3.4 billion ringfenced through the Public Health Grant to help ensure that those with drugs and alcohol problem can access support. Through this investment and partnership working across health, criminal justice, safeguarding, and domestic abuse services, we are supporting individuals and families to reduce harm, support recovery, and improve outcomes for children and families.
In England, the Families First Partnership programme is rolling out reforms to family help, child protection and family group decision making to keep children safe. The programme is backed by ÂŁ2.4 billion over three years. These reforms will help rebalance the system of support away from crisis intervention and towards earlier help, ensuring children and families, including those experiencing domestic abuse and/or substance misuse, are able to access the right support at the right time.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum applications have been (1) made, and (2) accepted over the last 10 years, in total and in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Please find the figures in the table below.
Table 1: Number of Asylum Claims and Number of Grants of Protection or Other Leave at Initial Decision (October 2015 â September 2025)
Period | Asylum Claims | Grants of Protection or Other Leave (at initial decision) |
October 2015-September 2016 | 41,981 | 10,556 |
October 2016-September 2017 | 34,645 | 9,279 |
October 2017-September 2018 | 36,717 | 9,186 |
October 2018-September 2019 | 44,145 | 13,867 |
October 2019-September 2020 | 39,979 | 10,697 |
October 2020-September 2021 | 45,535 | 11,897 |
October 2021-September 2022 | 88,213 | 15,533 |
October 2022-September 2023 | 94,132 | 38,098 |
October 2023-September 2024 | 97,091 | 52,742 |
October 2024-September 2025 | 110,051 | 58,148 |
Total | 632,489 | 230,003 |
Source: Asy_D01- Asylum Claims and Asy_D02 Asylum Initial Decisions of the âAsylum claim and initial decisions detailed datasetsâ, as part of Home Officeâs âImmigration System Statistics Quarterly Releaseâ.
Figures include both main applicants and dependants. Grant figures reflect outcomes at the initial decision stage only.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to preventâŻillegal immigrants from working in food and parcel delivery with access to private blocks of flats.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government is changing the law through the upcoming Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. to extend the requirement for right to work checks and bring in employer sanctions, to businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like food delivery, courier services and warehousing. This will apply to all roles, including public-facing delivery services who attend private properties.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the report Reasonable grounds decisions in the NRM â who has been impacted by the change to the decision-making threshold?, published by Justice and Care, what assessment they have made of the impact of the increased evidential requirements for positive reasonable grounds decisions on the ability of adult potential modern slavery victims to access specialist support.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All NRM decisions are made on an individual basis, carried out by trained specialist decision-makers in the Competent Authorities, in line with the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under section 49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and the non-statutory guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The guidance is underpinned by The Slavery and Human Trafficking Definition of Victim Regulations 2022 and in accordance with the UK's international legal obligations.
We recognise the challenges associated with the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and have made significant strides to implement changes. This Government recruited 200 new staff to clear the NRM decision backlog and as of March 2025, the backlog is now less than half the size it was at its worst in 2022.
On 30 April this year, we also published our improved and simplified NRM referral form following extensive feedback from over 450 stakeholders. The new referral form will improve the quality of referrals, better reflect victimsâ experiences, and support more informed and consistent decision-making.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Reasonable grounds decisions in the NRM â who has been impacted by the change to the decision-making threshold?, published by Justice and Care, and what are the reasons why some groups of potential modern slavery victims receive disproportionate levels of negative reasonable grounds decisions.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
All NRM decisions are made on an individual basis, carried out by trained specialist decision-makers in the Competent Authorities, in line with the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under section 49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and the non-statutory guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The guidance is underpinned by The Slavery and Human Trafficking Definition of Victim Regulations 2022 and in accordance with the UK's international legal obligations.
We recognise the challenges associated with the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and have made significant strides to implement changes. This Government recruited 200 new staff to clear the NRM decision backlog and as of March 2025, the backlog is now less than half the size it was at its worst in 2022.
On 30 April this year, we also published our improved and simplified NRM referral form following extensive feedback from over 450 stakeholders. The new referral form will improve the quality of referrals, better reflect victimsâ experiences, and support more informed and consistent decision-making.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports in the Sunday Times on 26 January about the support that forced labour victims received from victim navigators at the charity Justice and Care, what steps they are taking to implement the recommendation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 Committee Report, The Modern Slavery Act 2015: becoming world-leading again, that "Victim navigators should be rolled out nationally".
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting victims to engage with the criminal justice system and the positive impact an independent support worker, working alongside law enforcement, can have on securing this engagement.
The Minister for Safeguarding and Violence and Woman and Girls has met with the non-governmental organisation delivering the Victim Navigator Programme to better understand the impact of the programme to inform considerations of how we best support victims.
In addition, all consenting adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in England and Wales, can access specialist need-based support via the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract. In the current Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract support workers are required to signpost and facilitate survivor access to legal advice service, including support by non-governmental organisations, ensuring access to qualified advisors.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce demand for trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is, with a commitment to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats, and targeting prolific perpetrators.
We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that between July to September 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (697) of all referrals sent to police forces in England and Wales for investigation. Of these, the majority were for females (76%; 528).
Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.
Online platforms are a significant enabler of sexual exploitation. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
The Government will continue to keep policies to tackle sexual exploitation under review.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of commercial sexual exploitation in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is, with a commitment to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats, and targeting prolific perpetrators.
We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that between July to September 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (697) of all referrals sent to police forces in England and Wales for investigation. Of these, the majority were for females (76%; 528).
Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.
Online platforms are a significant enabler of sexual exploitation. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
The Government will continue to keep policies to tackle sexual exploitation under review.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they provide to help victims of sexual exploitation exit prostitution.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is, with a commitment to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats, and targeting prolific perpetrators.
We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that between July to September 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (697) of all referrals sent to police forces in England and Wales for investigation. Of these, the majority were for females (76%; 528).
Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.
Online platforms are a significant enabler of sexual exploitation. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
The Government will continue to keep policies to tackle sexual exploitation under review.