Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted under human trafficking laws in each year since 2010.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted for offences under human trafficking laws, from 2010 to 2022, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022, and from year ending June 2011 to the year ending June 2023, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023:
Offences under sections 2(1), 4 and 30(1) and 30(3) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 can be found using following HO codes:
03608 - Conspire to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation
03610 - Commit offence other than kidnapping or false imprisonment with intent to commit human trafficking offence
03611 - Commit offence of kidnapping or false imprisonment with intention of committing human trafficking offence
03612 - Breach a slavery and trafficking risk or prevention order
Offences under sections 57, 58, 59, 59A(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 & Offences under sections 4 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 can be found by using following offences:
72 Human trafficking for sexual exploitation
78.1 Human trafficking for non-sexual exploitation
These can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code and Offence filters to select the above offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.
In 2015, the UK Government introduced the world-leading Modern Slavery Act, giving law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle trafficking, including maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims.
Since the Modern Slavery Act was passed in 2015, we have seen significant law enforcement activity focused on modern slavery, which has led to an increase in the number of live police modern slavery investigations.
This has also led to an increase in the number of prosecutions brought and convictions secured.
Measures under the Nationality and Borders Act came into force in 2023 which have helped clarify our obligations to providing support for victims of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the rate of victims of crime dropping out of criminal proceedings.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Supporting victims within the criminal justice system is a top priority for the government.
The government recognises that lengthy delays in court proceedings can exacerbate the challenges faced by victims and increase the likelihood of dropouts. We are actively recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions in the current financial year, emphasising our commitment to reducing waiting times. We funded over 100,000 sitting days last financial year and plan to deliver the same again this financial year to ensure we can hear more cases and tackle the outstanding caseload. The continued use of 24 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2023/24 financial year further demonstrates our dedication to addressing capacity challenges and expediting the legal process.
The government is committed to providing robust support systems for victims throughout the court process. Our recent initiatives include the full rollout of pre-recorded cross-examination (Section 28) for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences across all Crown Court locations in England and Wales. This allows victims to provide evidence in a less intimidating environment, reducing the emotional strain associated with live courtroom trials. In December 2022, we launched a new 24/7 support line for victims of rape and sexual abuse, providing free, confidential emotional support to help victims cope with the challenges they may face during proceedings.
The government is also quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10. This includes additional ringfenced funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) by 300, to over 1,000, by 2024/25 - a 43% increase on the number of ISVAs and IDVAs. This year (2023/24), we are providing £38 million of ringfenced funding for ISVAs and IDVAs. We know the support available from ISVAs and IDVAs make victims almost 50% more likely to stay engaged with the criminal justice process.
The Victims and Prisoners Bill, reintroduced last November carried over from the previous session, encompasses measures designed to improve the overall experience of victims in the criminal justice system, supporting them to cope, recover and see justice done. The Bill introduces a duty on local commissioners in England to collaborate in commissioning support services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence, and introduces a requirement for statutory guidance about support roles such as ISVAs and IDVAs, ensuring a more cohesive and effective support provision.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle modern slavery in Solihull constituency.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
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.
We work closely with law enforcement, the criminal justice system, business, civil society and local government. The UK response is underpinned by the Modern Slavery Strategy 2014 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015; this legislation gives law enforcement agencies the tools to tackle modern slavery offences, including a maximum life sentence for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims.
Since 2016, in addition to core police funding, we have invested £17.8 million in the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, a specialist police unit which supports all police forces in England and Wales, including West Midlands Police, to improve their response to modern slavery.
The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. If a First Responder thinks that modern slavery has taken place, the case should be referred to the NRM so that the relevant competent authority can fully consider the case. This process operates across all of England and Wales.
The Home Office also funds the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) to provide specialist support to adult victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. A total of 10,704 adults in England and Wales received support through the MSVCC during the year ending June 2023, the largest number supported for any year since the contract began.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 6 February (HL4984), when they will publish the guidance on providing 12 months' support to modern slavery victims who hold a positive conclusive grounds decision.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We carefully reviewed the commitment made regarding the provision of 12 months’ support to modern slavery victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision and concluded that the Recovery Needs Assessment ensures that necessary support is available to victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision for the necessary length of time, including if this is 12 months, or longer. There is therefore no need to specify 12-month support for all individuals in guidance and no current plans to do so.
A total of 10,704 consenting adults in England and Wales received support through the Modern Slavery Victim Care contract during the year ending June 2023, the largest number support for any year since the contract began, and the Government remains committed to supporting victims based on need.
Through Section 65 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Government also set out, for the first time in primary legislation, that confirmed victims of modern slavery are eligible for temporary permission to stay in the UK. Depending on the individual circumstances, Temporary Permission to Stay can be granted for 12 months, or more, to confirmed victims of Modern Slavery. This delivers a fair and effective permission to stay process in relation to confirmed victims of modern slavery, allowing those who are cooperating with public authorities in the investigation and/or prosecution of their exploiters to stay in the UK for that purpose.
We do not publish the other data requested.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the past three years, how many victims of modern slavery have qualified for leave to remain to pursue a compensation claim or a criminal case against their traffickers.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We carefully reviewed the commitment made regarding the provision of 12 months’ support to modern slavery victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision and concluded that the Recovery Needs Assessment ensures that necessary support is available to victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision for the necessary length of time, including if this is 12 months, or longer. There is therefore no need to specify 12-month support for all individuals in guidance and no current plans to do so.
A total of 10,704 consenting adults in England and Wales received support through the Modern Slavery Victim Care contract during the year ending June 2023, the largest number support for any year since the contract began, and the Government remains committed to supporting victims based on need.
Through Section 65 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Government also set out, for the first time in primary legislation, that confirmed victims of modern slavery are eligible for temporary permission to stay in the UK. Depending on the individual circumstances, Temporary Permission to Stay can be granted for 12 months, or more, to confirmed victims of Modern Slavery. This delivers a fair and effective permission to stay process in relation to confirmed victims of modern slavery, allowing those who are cooperating with public authorities in the investigation and/or prosecution of their exploiters to stay in the UK for that purpose.
We do not publish the other data requested.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the past three years, how many victims of modern slavery have (1) received support following a recovery needs assessment, (2) received all the support they asked for, and (3) received support for 12 months or more.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We carefully reviewed the commitment made regarding the provision of 12 months’ support to modern slavery victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision and concluded that the Recovery Needs Assessment ensures that necessary support is available to victims with a positive Conclusive Grounds decision for the necessary length of time, including if this is 12 months, or longer. There is therefore no need to specify 12-month support for all individuals in guidance and no current plans to do so.
A total of 10,704 consenting adults in England and Wales received support through the Modern Slavery Victim Care contract during the year ending June 2023, the largest number support for any year since the contract began, and the Government remains committed to supporting victims based on need.
Through Section 65 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Government also set out, for the first time in primary legislation, that confirmed victims of modern slavery are eligible for temporary permission to stay in the UK. Depending on the individual circumstances, Temporary Permission to Stay can be granted for 12 months, or more, to confirmed victims of Modern Slavery. This delivers a fair and effective permission to stay process in relation to confirmed victims of modern slavery, allowing those who are cooperating with public authorities in the investigation and/or prosecution of their exploiters to stay in the UK for that purpose.
We do not publish the other data requested.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of (a) women and (b) girls from Eastern Europe who were trafficked to the UK and subsequently (i) compelled and (ii) forced to commit criminal acts in each of the last five years.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We do not routinely collect the required data to estimate the number of women and girls from Eastern Europe who were trafficked to the UK and were subsequently compelled or forced to commit criminal acts.
In 2022, 479 females were referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) who reported criminal exploitation, either partly or wholly.
For adult victims of modern slavery who enter the NRM, the Home Office funds the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC), contracted to spend £379 million over 5 years, to provide specialist support through the provision of safehouse accommodation, support-worker contact and financial assistance.
In addition, between 2016 and March 2023, the Home Office has spent over £37 million through the Modern Slavery Fund to combat modern slavery overseas and reduce the threat of human trafficking to the UK.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent abuse of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 by foreign national offenders using the provisions of the Act to delay proceedings against them or to stay their removal from the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear in its commitment to identifying, protecting, and supporting genuine victims of modern slavery whilst prosecuting criminals.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015, and subsequent legislation such as the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and Illegal Migration Act 2023, make it harder for people to game the modern slavery system. Measures in our modern slavery legislation strike the right balance and still enable us to protect genuine victims of trafficking.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced the Public Order Disqualification, which means that foreign national offenders can be removed from the protections of the NRM where they pose a threat to public order.
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 furthered these measures, toughening the measures introduced in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
Additionally, where a foreign national offender has entered the United Kingdom illegally, and therefore presents a threat to public order, they will be disqualified from access to a recovery period and modern slavery specific support, unless they qualify for limited exceptions.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to increase the legal (a) aid and (b) advice provision for individuals with (i) immigration and (ii) refugee law queries in (A) Plymouth and (B) the South West.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.
Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.
Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.
The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the remote provision of immigration and asylum advice; and whether he has carried out an Equality Impact Assessment on the remote provision of such advice.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.
Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.
Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.
The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.