Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
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.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on reducing the prevalence of modern slavery in the UK.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Modern slavery crimes are often described as “hidden” crimes: we know these crimes to be underreported and difficult to detect. For this reason, we do not know with certainty the true prevalence of the crime or the number of victims in the UK. It is a vicious crime: victims of modern slavery may experience multiple forms of abuse and exploitation, usually involving some element of coercion or abuse of power. This means that victims may not recognise themselves as such or may be too traumatised or in fear of their exploiters or the authorities to report the crime or support prosecutions.
The UK Government continues to work with a wide range of partners to raise awareness, increase resilience, and reduce public tolerance of exploitative behaviour. We have worked closely with NGOs and law enforcement partners to develop an Action Plan on Modern Slavery. The Action Plan sets out the Department’s commitments to tackling Modern Slavery for the 25/26 financial year and was an agreed objective from the 2024 Anti-Slavery Week roundtables. It includes actions around prevention of modern slavery both in the UK and upstream overseas, including our work on tackling forced labour.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle modern slavery in Devon.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK is committed to ensuring victims can access the necessary support to assist in their recovery from their experiences of exploitation or trafficking.
Adult victim support is provided on a national basis, across England and Wales. The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides specialist support to adult victims of exploitation and trafficking who have been identified through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).
The MSVCC provides safe accommodation where necessary, financial support and a support worker to help victims access other support services such as the NHS and legal aid.
With regards to support for child victims, local authorities are responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area.
The Government-funded Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service provides advocacy and support to child victims of exploitation and trafficking who have been referred to the NRM. In September 2025, we launched an invitation-to-tender for the national contract which will expand the service to provide national coverage in England and Wales, including Devon. The tender process is now underway.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support victims of modern slavery in Devon.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK is committed to ensuring victims can access the necessary support to assist in their recovery from their experiences of exploitation or trafficking.
Adult victim support is provided on a national basis, across England and Wales. The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides specialist support to adult victims of exploitation and trafficking who have been identified through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).
The MSVCC provides safe accommodation where necessary, financial support and a support worker to help victims access other support services such as the NHS and legal aid.
With regards to support for child victims, local authorities are responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area.
The Government-funded Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service provides advocacy and support to child victims of exploitation and trafficking who have been referred to the NRM. In September 2025, we launched an invitation-to-tender for the national contract which will expand the service to provide national coverage in England and Wales, including Devon. The tender process is now underway.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce protections to ensure asylum seekers under the duress of criminal gangs are not punished for failing to disclose they are being influenced.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise that that all asylum seekers are potentially vulnerable, and during the asylum decision making process, we aim to ensure that particularly vulnerable claimants are identified, the particular difficulties they may face in disclosing their experiences are given due consideration when assessing their credibility, and that they are given help in accessing appropriate services.
As the Home Secretary said in her statement of 17 November, we are committed to ensuring that victims of modern slavery are quickly identified and can access the necessary support through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of exploitation and human trafficking. However, we are also determined to pursue and tackle any abuse of the system to ensure it is working effectively for victims.
NRM decision-makers are trained to recognise conditions which may cause delays or inconsistencies in an individual’s account, including trauma, barriers to disclosure, and a reluctance on the part of potential victim to self-identify themselves as such. Timing of disclosure is also a relevant factor in assessing a potential victim’s modern slavery case. We will strengthen this further to ensure that it is a key consideration when deciding on the credibility of a case, whilst bearing in mind the impact that trauma has on victims of these crimes.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the financial capacity of regional organised crime units to investigate modern slavery.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that law enforcement has there sources it needs to tackle crime effectively. Regional Organised Crime Units(ROCUs) are collaborations between three or more police forces and help support forces and partners to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC),including modern slavery.The Home Office provides c.30% of funding to supports the ROCUs intackling SOC, with the remaining c.70% coming from Police and Crime Commissioners in 2025-26. To improve the response to modern slavery, the Home Office also provides funding through the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, for regional coordinators, based in theROCUs that act as a bridge between the ROCU and forces to provide specialist advice and support on investigations. In addition to this, the Home Office-funded Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) Programme is anintelligence capability that is increasing law enforcements capability to respond to organised exploitation, including modern slavery. As the spending review and subsequent allocations process is ongoing, funding for future years cannot be confirmed at this time.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the history of Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism is accurately and thoroughly taught in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The history curriculum includes a statutory time period at key stage 3 titled “ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901” which includes the non-statutory example of Britain’s transatlantic slave trade. Due to the flexibility of the history curriculum, these topics can also be taught, where relevant, across the three key stages.
Schools can access resources from bodies such as Oak National Academy, the Historical Association and others to ensure their teaching is accurate and thorough.
In reforming the curriculum following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we are clear that all pupils should have a robust understanding of our nation’s history.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Centre for Social Justice's report entitled At what cost? Exploring the impact of forced labour in the UK, published in October 2024, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure the registration of hand car washing facilities.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is creating the Fair Work Agency, which will enhance the enforcement of employment rights across sectors, including hand car washes. As announced in the Budget, the Agency will establish a dedicated 'hidden economy' team which will target sectors with multiple regulatory breaches, starting with hand car washes.
The initiative will address employment rights violations while collaborating with relevant enforcement authorities to protect workers and support legitimate businesses operating within the law.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department had held discussions with museums and other cultural institutions on the potential merits of engaging with communities on colonial-era acquisitions and the transatlantic slave trade.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums in the UK are independent from the government and so decisions on engaging with communities are operational matters for them and their trustees to decide.
The Department is in regular contact with our 15 sponsored museums, and as part of this has from time to time had discussions on these issues. The Horniman Museum informed us that it had consulted local communities regarding the Benin Bronzes in its collection, before reaching a decision to transfer legal title to the objects to the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
The Department is working closely with National Museums Liverpool on the development and refurbishment of the International Slavery Museum (ISM), which is being co-produced working closely with Liverpool’s communities, and will include a space for a new National Centre for Teaching Black History.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of holding discussions with financial institutions on reparatory (a) funds and (b) initiatives relating to the transatlantic slave trade.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 10 March 2025 to Question 32987.