Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the National Referral Mechanism in respect of child victims of trafficking; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to local authorities to enable them to provide specialist support for child victims of trafficking.

that will significantly improve the NRM decision making process. We will create a single, expert unit in the Home Office to make decisions about whether somebody is a victim of modern slavery; we will introduce an independent panel of experts to review all negative NRM decisions; we will build a new digital system to support referral and case-working; and we will consult on strengthening the First Responder role. These changes will improve the decision making process for both children and adults. In addition we are exploring how to make the NRM decision-making process more ‘child-friendly’, including looking at how we communicate NRM decisions to children.

To continue improving the support that child victims receive, we have committed to rolling out Independent Child Trafficking Advocates (ICTAs) nationally, and continue testing innovative ways of supporting trafficked children through the £2.2m funding we granted as part of the Child Trafficking Protection Fund.

We recognise that local authorities play a pivotal role in the safeguarding of all children in their care, regardless of their backgrounds or experiences. It is absolutely right that local authorities continue to make decisions about the placement and welfare of children, which includes assessing risks such as trafficking, and considering the need to refer to the NRM. To support this, in addition to the national rollout of ICTAs, we have revised statutory guidance on the care of unaccompanied children and child victims of modern slavery, funded training for foster carers and support workers and developed training for Independent Advocates.