Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many investigations into modern slavery have been made in each police force area in 2014.

Data showing the number of police investigations for modern slavery in 2014 is not yet available. The National Policing Lead for modern slavery, Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, is currently developing the approach to improving the management of modern slavery related data across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. These improvements in managing modern slavery data will result in greater cohesion across policing, which in turn will improve our strategic understanding and operational responses.

In addition, modern slavery offences have been added to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for the first time. The HOCR provides guidance to police forces about how crime reported to the police should be recorded, meaning that from 1st April 2015 all modern slavery crimes reported to the police will be properly recorded.

The Government has introduced a new statutory role, the Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner, responsible for improving awareness and detection by law enforcement, as well as working with partners to increase the number of successful prosecutions of the perpetrators of modern slavery. Kevin Hyland was appointed as the designate Commissioner in November 2014.