Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Minister for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of 17 January 2018, what the evidential basis is for the statement that more victims are willing and able to come forward, and have the confidence to do so.

The evidential basis is provided the 2017 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery, available on gov.uk via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652366/2017_uk_annual_report_on_modern_slavery.pdf

The number of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the UK’s modern slavery victim identification and support service – has increased every year since the NRM was introduced in 2009. 3,804 potential victims were referred into the NRM process in 2016. This figure represents a 16% increase over the number of referrals in 2015.