Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of modern slavery adherence by employers who have published Modern Slavery statements.

The government is committed to tackling modern slavery, ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted.

All businesses should monitor their supply chains with rigour to uncover, report where appropriate, and remedy any instances of modern slavery they may find in their operations and supply chains. Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, commercial businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more must produce annual modern slavery statements setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The Home Office does not routinely review the quality or accuracy of individual modern slavery statements or assess compliance with the section 54 requirements. Section 54 was designed to increase transparency, allowing scrutiny by consumers, investors, and civil society. Section 54 has helped bring greater awareness of modern slavery in boardrooms across the country, but it is clear a decade after the Act, the UK’s approach needs to evolve. The government is considering how it can strengthen the section 54 regime, including penalties for non-compliance.

Significant long-term reform will take time, and in the interim, the Home Office published new section 54 statutory guidance in March. This new guidance is more comprehensive, practical and ambitious – calling on businesses to go further and faster.