Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support children in care who are victims of trafficking.

The government provides Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs). They are an independent source of advice for trafficked children, working with multi-agency partners to advocate on behalf of the child so that they are protected from further harm and to promote the child’s recovery. Last year, ICTGs were successfully rolled out to one third of all local authorities in England and Wales and the Government remains committed to rolling ICTGs out nationally.

The ‘Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010’ were amended in 2014 to require that local authorities’ duties to care for looked after children are fulfilled with particular regard to a child’s circumstances and needs as a trafficked child. The Regulations apply to all children, regardless of their immigration status, nationality or documentation.

The departments statutory guidance ‘Care of unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery (2017)’ sets out detailed steps that local authorities should take to care for children who are victims of modern slavery, including trafficking. It emphasises that care placement decisions should take particular account of protecting the child from any continued risk from traffickers and processes should be in place to monitor policies and performance relating to child victims of modern slavery. Responsible managers should understand the risks and issues facing child victims of modern slavery and review best practice in planning for the care of these children.

The statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children (2018)' actively promotes a child centred, multi-agency approach to safeguarding all children and specifically highlights the need to manage complex risks to children from exploitation by criminal gangs, including trafficking and modern slavery.