Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of 27 October 2017, Official Report, col. 512, when the new digital system will be developed to support the National Referral Mechanism process to make it easier for people on the front line to refer victims for support.

On 26 October 2017 the Government announced its plans for reform of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) confirming the Government’s commitment to markedly improving the identification of, and support provided to, victims of modern slavery. This includes strengthening the role of designated first responders by considering who should be a first responder and how they should be trained, and introducing a new digital system for referrals and case working. We are currently running a procurement exercise for the digital solution and the timetable for building and implementation of the system is dependent on commercial processes.

Detailed implementation plans for the whole reform programme are currently being developed and further information will be announced in due course.