Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) reports of exploitation in the care sector were received and (b) how many inspections were conducted on (i) care homes and (ii) businesses by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority in each year since 2018-19.

The overall regulation of care homes is administered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rather than the Gangmaster Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). The CQC monitors, inspects, and independently regulates services of health and adult social care in England. The standard CQC Whistleblowing Policy applies to exploited care workers raising concerns. The GLAA undertakes inspections of businesses in their licenced sectors, which does not currently include care homes.

The Government does not hold a breakdown of data by labour market sector for the time periods requested. However, the GLAA has conducted visits to care homes as part of enforcement activity.

Labour market enforcement bodies set up Operation TOPAZ in May. This is a multi-agency enforcement operation to investigate a range of allegations about the adult care sector. The operation is in its initial stages and the allegations range from labour market offences, such as charging for work finding fees, potential non-payment of National Minimum Wage, to wider issues such as illegal working and student visa abuse. The GLAA lead work on the higher level of exploitative abuses, such as potential debt bondage and modern slavery.

We are developing a robust evidence base that will underpin our strategy to manage risks across the adult care sector.