Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has taken steps in response to the findings in the Human Rights Watch report entitled Asleep at the Wheel: Car Companies' Complicity in Forced Labor in China, published on 1 February 2024.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Modern slavery is a barbaric crime which we are determined to stamp out. In 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang, which found that China had carried out “serious human rights violations” against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities.
The Government’s overseas business risk guidance sets out the risks of operating in Xinjiang and urges UK companies to conduct appropriate due diligence and consider their corporate responsibilities when making business decisions. The Department for Business and Trade is continuing to consider actor agnostic measures that would improve supply chain transparency and traceability. I have requested meetings with named manufacturers in the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report to discuss this issue in more detail.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will review declarations by UK companies on (a) slave and (b) forced labour in their supply chains.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Home Office Ministers have not met with businesses which operate in China to discuss the Modern Slavey Act 2015.
Under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act, commercial businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more are required to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. The aim of the requirement is to provide transparency, allowing consumers, investors, and civil society to scrutinise business action.
In 2021 the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to bring together modern slavery statements on a single platform and make the data readily available for investors, civil society and consumers. Since launching the online modern slavery statement registry in March 2021, over 12,500 modern slavery statements covering over 43,000 organisations have been submitted to the registry on a voluntary basis.
The Government does not routinely review the quality of individual modern slavery statements.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with businesses which operate in China on their legal obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Home Office Ministers have not met with businesses which operate in China to discuss the Modern Slavey Act 2015.
Under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act, commercial businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more are required to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. The aim of the requirement is to provide transparency, allowing consumers, investors, and civil society to scrutinise business action.
In 2021 the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to bring together modern slavery statements on a single platform and make the data readily available for investors, civil society and consumers. Since launching the online modern slavery statement registry in March 2021, over 12,500 modern slavery statements covering over 43,000 organisations have been submitted to the registry on a voluntary basis.
The Government does not routinely review the quality of individual modern slavery statements.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that Departments meet the legal requirements to ensure the prevention of (a) human trafficking and (b) slave labour in supply chains.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The UK Government’s response to Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking is compliant with both domestic and international obligations, such as those covered under the Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Modern Slavery Act 2015, Illegal Migration Act 2023 and Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
All contracting authorities are strongly encouraged to follow best practice and due diligence outlined in Procurement Policy Note 02/23.
Where a supplier is found to have a high or medium risk of having modern slavery in their supply chain, the Government-owned Modern Slavery Assessment Tool is used to identify what a supplier needs to do to tackle that risk.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been prosecuted under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 in each year since 2015.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) is an arms lengths body of the Home Office.
The number of licences the GLAA issued in Lincolnshire between 2021-2023 are as follows:
a) 2021 – 6 licences
b) 2022 – 4 licences
c) 2023 – 10 licences
The GLAA publishes the total number of annual convictions on its website which can be found at Gangmasters Licensing Offences - Modern Slavery Offences - GLAA.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority licences were issued in Lincolnshire in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) is an arms lengths body of the Home Office.
The number of licences the GLAA issued in Lincolnshire between 2021-2023 are as follows:
a) 2021 – 6 licences
b) 2022 – 4 licences
c) 2023 – 10 licences
The GLAA publishes the total number of annual convictions on its website which can be found at Gangmasters Licensing Offences - Modern Slavery Offences - GLAA.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent the risk of (a) fires, (b) floods, (c) structural damage to buildings and (d) other dangers potentially caused by illegal drug cultivation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department issues to (a) police and (b) immigration authorities on working together to tackle the intersection of (i) drug cultivation and (ii) immigration offences.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who are arrested for suspected drug cultivation are assessed for signs that they may have been (a) coerced and (b) exploited by others.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the cultivation of illegal drug farms in abandoned commercial properties.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.
The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.
Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.
Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.
Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.
Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.