Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when organisations will be permitted to share their learning in the form of high level, non-identifying data from their front-line work undertaken under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), a lot of personal and protected data is generated, stored and processed to enable delivery of key services to vulnerable victims.
The Single Competent Authority (SCA), who manage the MSVC Contract delivered by The Salvation Army (TSA), is currently reviewing how such data can be appropriately handled for research purposes.
It is imperative to get the balance right between ensuring that rich data can support insights into key operational and policy activities, and ensuring that (when such data is utilised) it is done in ways which are fully compliant with data protection rules and are transparent to the victims themselves.
Service providers are already able to engage with TSA and the SCA should they want to provide high level, non-identifying data for the purposes of research.
The SCA has been communicating with MSVCC service providers about this ongoing work, and the potential next steps in agreeing a contractual mechanism to manage any such future research.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Home Office plans to publish an explanation of its prohibition of the use of any data which results from the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), a lot of personal and protected data is generated, stored and processed to enable delivery of key services to vulnerable victims.
The Single Competent Authority (SCA), who manage the MSVC Contract delivered by The Salvation Army (TSA), is currently reviewing how such data can be appropriately handled for research purposes.
It is imperative to get the balance right between ensuring that rich data can support insights into key operational and policy activities, and ensuring that (when such data is utilised) it is done in ways which are fully compliant with data protection rules and are transparent to the victims themselves.
Service providers are already able to engage with TSA and the SCA should they want to provide high level, non-identifying data for the purposes of research.
The SCA has been communicating with MSVCC service providers about this ongoing work, and the potential next steps in agreeing a contractual mechanism to manage any such future research.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons subcontractors are not permitted to share high level, non-identifying data secured within the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract for the purposes of anti-trafficking research.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), a lot of personal and protected data is generated, stored and processed to enable delivery of key services to vulnerable victims.
The Single Competent Authority (SCA), who manage the MSVC Contract delivered by The Salvation Army (TSA), is currently reviewing how such data can be appropriately handled for research purposes.
It is imperative to get the balance right between ensuring that rich data can support insights into key operational and policy activities, and ensuring that (when such data is utilised) it is done in ways which are fully compliant with data protection rules and are transparent to the victims themselves.
Service providers are already able to engage with TSA and the SCA should they want to provide high level, non-identifying data for the purposes of research.
The SCA has been communicating with MSVCC service providers about this ongoing work, and the potential next steps in agreeing a contractual mechanism to manage any such future research.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to set up a redress scheme to ensure that all eligible survivors of trafficking and slavery who were denied subsistence payments are able to receive the back-dated payments.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are aware that between 1 April 2015 – 30 November 2019, individuals who were in receipt of financial support payments during their time in the (then) Victim Care Contract (VCC) could have seen their support payments reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income. This was in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. When uncovered, this practice was ceased in November 2019.
As back-payments may be appropriate in some cases, we are currently working on a process to establish individual eligibility and considering back-payment mechanisms.
We continue to work diligently to finalise these considerations, to provide the most effective remedy to those who could have been affected by incorrect financial support reductions. We will provide further details as our work progresses.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a specific team within the Single Competent Authority established under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 responsible for making trafficking decisions in relation to children.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The creation of the Single Competent Authority (SCA) was announced in Autumn 2017 as part of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) Reform Programme. The SCA was launched in April 2019, replacing the previous competent authorities for the NRM.
Decision makers within the SCA are fully trained to make both Reasonable Grounds decisions and Conclusive Grounds decisions on children who may be potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
The figures below include all staff involved in the Single Competent Authority’s decision-making work (including all decision points such as Reasonable Grounds, Conclusive Grounds, Reconsiderations, Modern Slavery Discretionary Leave, and Recovery Needs Assessments) and includes all functions across the unit necessary for that activity (including management, case preparation, technical specialists, business support etc). The numbers provided are taken as of 30 November from a live operational database and may change as information on the system is updated.
Home Office Staff: 225 (181 full time and 44 part time)
Agency Staff: 3 (all full time)
Between now and March 2021, over 350 new staff will join the Home Office to work in the SCA. The vast majority of these staff will be decision-makers, with the remainder of the posts going to case preparation, workflow management, technical specialist and management roles essential for the operation of the Unit.
Recruiting in these numbers will give us the capacity to make significantly more Conclusive Grounds decisions than we are currently able to do with existing resource, and therefore will bring down decision-making timescales for victims.
The current Head of the SCA took up post on 4 April 2019.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Home Office (1) staff, and (2) agency staff, are employed (a) full time, and (b) part time, to make decisions on trafficking and modern slavery within the Single Competent Authority established under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The creation of the Single Competent Authority (SCA) was announced in Autumn 2017 as part of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) Reform Programme. The SCA was launched in April 2019, replacing the previous competent authorities for the NRM.
Decision makers within the SCA are fully trained to make both Reasonable Grounds decisions and Conclusive Grounds decisions on children who may be potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
The figures below include all staff involved in the Single Competent Authority’s decision-making work (including all decision points such as Reasonable Grounds, Conclusive Grounds, Reconsiderations, Modern Slavery Discretionary Leave, and Recovery Needs Assessments) and includes all functions across the unit necessary for that activity (including management, case preparation, technical specialists, business support etc). The numbers provided are taken as of 30 November from a live operational database and may change as information on the system is updated.
Home Office Staff: 225 (181 full time and 44 part time)
Agency Staff: 3 (all full time)
Between now and March 2021, over 350 new staff will join the Home Office to work in the SCA. The vast majority of these staff will be decision-makers, with the remainder of the posts going to case preparation, workflow management, technical specialist and management roles essential for the operation of the Unit.
Recruiting in these numbers will give us the capacity to make significantly more Conclusive Grounds decisions than we are currently able to do with existing resource, and therefore will bring down decision-making timescales for victims.
The current Head of the SCA took up post on 4 April 2019.
Asked by: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the head of the Single Competent Authority established under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 took up their post.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The creation of the Single Competent Authority (SCA) was announced in Autumn 2017 as part of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) Reform Programme. The SCA was launched in April 2019, replacing the previous competent authorities for the NRM.
Decision makers within the SCA are fully trained to make both Reasonable Grounds decisions and Conclusive Grounds decisions on children who may be potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
The figures below include all staff involved in the Single Competent Authority’s decision-making work (including all decision points such as Reasonable Grounds, Conclusive Grounds, Reconsiderations, Modern Slavery Discretionary Leave, and Recovery Needs Assessments) and includes all functions across the unit necessary for that activity (including management, case preparation, technical specialists, business support etc). The numbers provided are taken as of 30 November from a live operational database and may change as information on the system is updated.
Home Office Staff: 225 (181 full time and 44 part time)
Agency Staff: 3 (all full time)
Between now and March 2021, over 350 new staff will join the Home Office to work in the SCA. The vast majority of these staff will be decision-makers, with the remainder of the posts going to case preparation, workflow management, technical specialist and management roles essential for the operation of the Unit.
Recruiting in these numbers will give us the capacity to make significantly more Conclusive Grounds decisions than we are currently able to do with existing resource, and therefore will bring down decision-making timescales for victims.
The current Head of the SCA took up post on 4 April 2019.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the change in the number of (a) British children and (b) Albanian adults being referred to the National Referral Mechanism in the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery; ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives and that those responsible are prosecuted. The number of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals has increased every year since the NRM was introduced in 2009.
The increase in referrals is likely to be indicative of greater awareness of the NRM and improved law enforcement activity, as well as an increase in the recorded NRM referrals related to young people involved in county lines activity. The Home Office have published statistics on the nationality of NRM referrals for adults and children on a quarterly basis from Quarter 2 2019. Prior to this the NCA published this data. On 19 October we published the 2020 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery which sets out an assessment of trends in modern slavery in the UK.
Home Office statistics can be found: here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics
Statistic published by the NCA can be found here: https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications
Modern Slavery Annual report can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2020-uk-annual-report-on-modern-slavery
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether potential victims of (a) trafficking or (b) modern slavery who were in the National Referral Mechanism before November 2019 (a) were offered and (b) received subsistence payments.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In reference to your first question, the rates for financial support are set out in the Victim Care Contract (VCC) and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.
In reference to your second question, there is no distinction made between victims of trafficking and modern slavery in relation to support provided by the VCC. The current VCC has been operational since 2015; providing support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.
We are aware that some individuals may have received incorrect financial support payments during their time in VCC support until 30 November 2019. Financial support payments may have been reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income, in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. We are working at pace to establish who may have been affected. We will communicate further details on how we plan to rectify this issue in the coming weeks.
In reference to your third question, the data requested on how many and what proportion of people in the NRM from April 2019 to March 2020 are receiving subsistence payments does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office published quarterly statistics regarding the NRM which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people in the National Referral Mechanism from April 2019 to March 2020 (a) received and (b) did not receive weekly subsistence payments.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In reference to your first question, the rates for financial support are set out in the Victim Care Contract (VCC) and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.
In reference to your second question, there is no distinction made between victims of trafficking and modern slavery in relation to support provided by the VCC. The current VCC has been operational since 2015; providing support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.
We are aware that some individuals may have received incorrect financial support payments during their time in VCC support until 30 November 2019. Financial support payments may have been reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income, in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. We are working at pace to establish who may have been affected. We will communicate further details on how we plan to rectify this issue in the coming weeks.
In reference to your third question, the data requested on how many and what proportion of people in the NRM from April 2019 to March 2020 are receiving subsistence payments does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office published quarterly statistics regarding the NRM which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.