Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to address, and (2) to prevent, cases in the UK of (a) forced labour, (b) people trafficking, and (c) exploitation of domestic workers from overseas countries.

The Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery and through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we have given law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims. Modern slavery is a complex crime that requires an end-to-end response both nationally and internationally – and that is why we are investing in a multi-agency approach across a range of activities, which include:

• Setting up a Modern Slavery Fund in 2016 to reduce modern slavery in the UK and overseas. Between 2016 and March 2022, £32.6m of Official Development Assistance has been invested, including in projects to strengthen law enforcement responses; protect victims from re-trafficking; and prevent people from being trafficked from countries where high numbers of people are trafficked to the UK;
• Introducing, in 2016, tools to tackle businesses who repeatedly or recklessly commit labour market offences and expanding the role and remit of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority in 2017, giving specially trained officers new police powers to prevent, detect and investigate serious labour exploitation across the entire economy. The Government spends £33 million a year on state enforcement of employment rights;
• Supporting the police to improve the national response to modern slavery and organised immigration crime through £16.5m of funding since 2016, to the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit to provide a bespoke intelligence hub, improved training and regional operational coordinators to support individual police forces;
• Cracking down on county lines gangs who are exploiting children. This includes up to £5m to fund specialist support provided by Catch22 for under 25s who are criminally exploited and trafficked through county lines in specific areas;
• Investing in research into what works to prevent slavery, as well as assessing risks of modern slavery in policy development, to ensure that opportunities for exploitation are minimised; and
• Designing the Immigration Rules governing our Overseas Domestic Worker route to prevent the importation of exploitative practices to the UK.