Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
What steps she is taking to (a) protect and (b) support victims of modern slavery.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK is a world-leader in the fight against modern slavery.
We have lifted thousands of modern slavery victims out of situations of exploitation and supported them to rebuild their lives.
The 2020 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery, published last month, sets out actions taken in the UK to tackle modern slavery, including:
- Publishing the statutory guidance for the identification and support for victims;
- Introduced innovative methods of support during the pandemic;
- Published the world’s first government modern slavery statement covering the government’s supply chains.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on police force finances of funding the long-term salaries of new police officers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The police funding settlement for 2020/21 sets out the biggest increase in funding for the policing system since 2010. The Government will provide a total police funding settlement of up to £15.2 billion in 2020/21, which is an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to 2019/20. As part of this, police forces will receive £700 million to recruit up to 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021.
Further to this, there is a set range for starting salaries for new officers and the decision on which pay point to appoint is a decision for each force for which this generous funding package will effectively allow the force to meet.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of funding for South Wales police.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The police funding settlement for 2020/21 sets out the biggest increase in funding for the policing system since 2010, with South Wales Constabulary receiving a total of up to £315.8m, an increase of up to £44.8m on 2019/20.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the merits of funding the (a) long-term and (b) starting salaries of recently recruited police officers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The police funding settlement for 2020/21 sets out the biggest increase in funding for the policing system since 2010.
The Government will provide a total police funding settlement of up to £15.2 billion in 2020/21, which is an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to 2019/20. As part of this, police forces will receive £700 million to recruit up to 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021. This is the first year of a multi-year commitment. Funding for future years will be set out at the Spending Review.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of the Government funding the salaries of the recently announced 20,000 new police officers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The police funding settlement for 2020/21 sets out the biggest increase in funding for the policing system since 2010.
The Government will provide a total police funding settlement of up to £15.2 billion in 2020/21, which is an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to 2019/20. As part of this, police forces will receive £700 million to recruit up to 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021. This is the first year of a multi-year commitment. Funding for future years will be set out at the Spending Review.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating additional funding and other resources to the police to respond to the rise in internet-related crime and online fraud.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The department is committed to tackling all forms of crime, including those that exploit technology and the internet. We are considering all routes to ensure law enforcement have the tools they need to go after these criminals and to protect the vulnerable.
Setting police budgets for 2020 to 2021, this government has prioritised £150 million to tackle serious and organised crime. This includes substantial investment in fraud and cyber crime.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications of the FCA's freezing of Wire Card for her emergency response policy on payment card freezes to ensure that future victims of trafficking are supported as part of the Victim Care Contract and able to access funds.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Prime Contractor of the Adult Victims of Modern Slavery support contract (AVMS), The Salvation Army, has contingency and business continuity plans in place across a range of services to ensure resilience and continued support to victims of modern slavery.
Due to issues relating to the card provider, on 26 June 2020 potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery with access to a payment card through the AVMS support contract were informed the payment cards were frozen and advised to contact their dedicated support worker if they needed emergency cash payments.
All subcontractors of the AVMS support contract were also instructed to assess their service users for those who might have needed urgent payments, so they could be contacted proactively, and provided with support and access to funds as required.
On 30 June 2020, the freeze on the payment cards was lifted and all service users were able to resume using their payment cards.
All victims of modern slavery accessing financial support through the AVMS contract are eligible to access payment cards through this service, where relevant.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) scale and (b) nature of modern slavery throughout the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The 2019 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/840059/Modern_Slavery_Report_2019.pdf sets out an assessment of trends in modern slavery in the UK. The Home Office also publishes quarterly statistics on potential victims being referred to the National Referral Mechanism. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-referral-mechanism-statistics-quarter-3-2019-july-to-september
In March 2020, the Office for National Statistics published a report entitled ‘Modern Slavery in the UK: March 2020’, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/modernslaveryintheuk/march2020 which brought together data sources linked to modern slavery. The report noted that there is no definitive source of data or suitable method available to accurately quantify the number of potential victims of modern slavery in the UK. However, we are committed to improving our understanding of this complex and hidden crime. In July 2019, the Government announced a £10 million investment to create a new Policy and Evidence Centre for Modern Slavery and Human Rights. We will continue working with the Centre and other partners to strengthen the evidence base of the nature and scale of modern slavery in the UK.