Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government is taking to encourage UK businesses to increase the transparency and visibility of their global supply chains.

The UK is party to a number of international agreements that support greater transparency and higher ethical standards in global supply chains. These include the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN Guiding Principles on Business and the UN Global Compact. The government also supports initiatives led by business or NGOs such as the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark and the Fairtrade movement. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 also requires that all large businesses produce an annual statement explaining what they have done to prevent modern slavery in their business and supply chains.