Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are reviewing the National Referral Mechanism for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery; and, if so, what they expect the review to cover.

The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery, prosecuting those responsible and supporting victims in their recovery.

To ensure the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) system operates as effectively as possible, we will launch a public consultation on how the Government can improve the process of identifying victims of modern slavery. This was something that the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls committed to on 27 March in a House of Commons debate marking the tenth anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Lord Moreas made similar remarks on 28 March in a House of Lords debate on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 Committee Report.

This consultation will be developed in the coming months and will focus on definitions of a victim of modern slavery, improving identification and decision-making processes, and futureproofing the modern slavery system. A key aim will be to strengthen the system’s credibility, ensuring it effectively serves victims of modern slavery while also being resilient to any challenges that could affect its integrity.

The Government will set out further details in due course.