Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle (a) human trafficking and (b) employer abuse affecting seafarers.

The Government takes reports of labour exploitation and human trafficking very seriously, including employer abuse against seafarers, and we remain committed to tackling the crime of modern slavery – wherever it occurs.

The Home Office funds the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), which has specially trained officers with police-style powers to prevent, detect, and investigate serious labour exploitation across the entire economy in England and Wales.

The Government is also establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA) through the Employment Rights Act. This will bring under one roof multiple agencies and bodies, including the GLAA, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team and will ensure a more cohesive and streamlined response to exploitation across the economy. The FWA will have enhanced powers and resources to identify and address labour exploitation more effectively, including new powers to investigate under the Fraud Act 2006.

In relation to tackling abuse related to seafarers, Border Force is making use of maritime powers introduced by the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to detain vessels where there is suspected modern slavery.

As an operational command within the Home Office, BSC-Maritime takes responsibility for safeguarding the vulnerable and, where necessary, Maritime officers can and do take direct action to remove seafarers from abusive or exploitative environments for their protection, regardless of whether the offence is detected in port or at sea.

Maritime Command works closely with Government partners such as the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) to train Border Force officers to identify offences relevant to those partners, such as labour abuses under the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) or ILO Work in Fishing Convention No.188 (ILO C188).