Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases for (a) adults and (b) children going through the National Referral Mechanism for the victims of human trafficking and slavery were suspended before a (i) Reasonable Grounds decision and (ii) Conclusive Grounds decision could be made; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that child victims of trafficking and slavery do not go missing from care.

The table below sets out the number of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals that have been suspended at Reasonable and Conclusive Grounds decision stages between 2009 and 2015. NRM decisions are suspended when it is not possible to gather further information to make a decision as the individual referred has gone missing. In these cases, the Competent Authority decision maker must ensure the missing individual has been reported to the police.

The Government is committed to ensuring that children who have been trafficked receive the right support, including through the national roll-out of Independent Child Trafficking Advocates. The Advocates will help to protect trafficked children from further harm, including preventing children from being re-trafficked or going missing. We will also launch the Child Trafficking Protection Fund this year, providing up to £3m over the next three years for innovative projects to deliver positive outcomes for potentially trafficked children.