Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in how many cases involving British children exploited in (a) gang crime, (b) violence and (c) drug crime has the statutory defence set out in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 been invoked.

Data on the number and type of cases where the statutory defence set out in section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has been applied are not collated centrally. The statutory defence could arise in any category of offence and may be a consideration in the decision as to whether to charge an individual in circumstances where the defence could apply.