Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure DBS applications for mental health volunteers working with prisoners are processed swiftly.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) operates to service standards of completing 80% of Basic check applications within 2 days, 80% of Standard check applications within 5 days, and 80% of Enhanced check applications within 14 days. DBS achieved these targets for 2021/22 and continues to do so for the current financial year.
The DBS cannot by law prioritise particular checks and does not provide a fast-track application service for any specific employment sector.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that all businesses trading in the UK conduct due diligence to eliminate child labour from their supply chains.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The landmark transparency provisions contained in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 made the UK the first country in the world to require businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery, which includes child labour, in their operations and supply chains.
The provision seeks to create a race to the top by requiring businesses to be transparent and enable consumers, investors, civil society and others to scrutinise action and monitor progress. The Government has committed to strengthening the reporting requirements contained in section 54. This will require primary legislation and as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we intend to legislate in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill.
The Home Office’s statutory guidance to support organisations produce transparency statements recommends that statements should include the risk assessment and due diligence organisations undertook to prevent and tackle modern slavery.
In addition, the Government supports the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the international framework which sets out steps to guide business to do voluntary human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for, impacts on human rights.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will have discussions with officials in her Department on the potential merits of strengthening the clarity and enforceability of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 through (a) mandating specific topics in annual self-reporting, (b) setting a single deadline, (c) introducing effective penalties and (d) making that data publicly available.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on steps taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The Government response to the Transparency in Supply Chains consultation, published on 22 September 2020, committed to taking forwards an ambitious package of measures to strengthen the Act’s transparency legislation, including:
In January 2021 the Government further committed to introduce financial penalties for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. These measures require primary legislation and as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we intend to legislate in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill. The Home Office will engage with organisations so they are aware when the new reporting requirements will come into effect, so they have time to prepare. We will also publish new guidance to support organisations to meet the new requirements.
In March 2021, the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to radically enhance transparency by bringing together modern slavery statements on a single platform and making the data readily available for the public. Since launch, over 8,350 modern slavery statements covering over 28,000 organisations have been submitted to the registry on a voluntary basis.