Agenda item

The Chair introduced Dame Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to introduce item three.  

The Commissioner thanked members for the invitation to the Board, and gave a brief overview of her career history as a police officer, as well as the strategic four point plan, which she hopes to be published in October.  This plan was currently with the Home Secretary for sign-off.  The Commissioner’s presentation included:

-       Slide one – the role of the Commissioner; 

-       Slide two – the strategic plan & four priorities.  This mentioned the LGA as a key partner.  

-       Slide three – improving victim care and support.  This included figures of victims, the key role for frontline staff in identifying victims and the need for up-to-date quality training within the local government sector, increasing the quality of victim support including the review of the National Referral Mechanism, the roll out of Independent Child Trafficking Advocates and other means of improving support to child victims (including details around the Bedfordshire University research into child trafficking). 

-       Slide four – supporting law enforcement and prosecutions.  This included details on the nature of this serious violent crime, coordinating the whole criminal prosecution system, details around victims that are trafficked across police boarders, the need to take into account the serious and organised crime aspect of modern slavery, the need to increase prosecutions and how labour intensive this can be (the Commissioner gave an example of a West Midlands operation which took place over a five year time frame), and getting the balance right between prosecutions and protecting victims.  

-       Slide five - a focus on prevention and protection; working with the private sector, organisations and businesses looking into their supply chains and encouraging them to complete and meet their statutory requirements around statements on transparency in their supply chains (Government departments will be completing statements for 2020/2021), raising public awareness when buying products produced by victims and highlighting examples of this (sourcing of consumer products, such as chocolate and clothes for example), and homelessness - homeless people are actively targeted.

-       Slide six – value from research & innovation, and making sure this feeds into policy and practice more.

-       Slide seven & eight – the Commissioners work with local authorities and the LGA including the LGA’s guide for councils on modern slavery.  The Commissioners office is trying to raise awareness of the issue on the ground, and are keen to work with local authorities to identify good practice via possible joint reports or round tables.  The Commissioner stated that there were around 7,000 referrals last year; 40 per cent of these were are child victims, and so adopting multi-agency child social care working models may be an avenue to explore, so the plan can integrate within existing local authorities procedures. 

Following the Commissioners presentation, members made the following comments:

Members asked the Commissioner if this policy area will remain a high priority for the new, Prime Minister (PM) and Home Secretary.  The Commissioner stated that when this issues is discussed in parliament, it continues to gain cross-party support and that Whitehall decision makers believe this continues to be a very important issue of our time.  There are also a number of organisations that believe tackling modern slavery is an important issue. The Commissioner also stated that there are a number of international conventions to which the UK is party requiring it to tackle modern slavery. 

Members discussed nail bars and car washes as some of the most common businesses where modern slavery can be found; members questioned if the Commissioner held any statistics over how many of these businesses commit modern slavery crimes.  The Commissioner responded that there are approximately 15,000 – 20,000 car washes in the UK, and that there are wider issues around breaking other laws such as health and safety standards, for example. It is known that some of these businesses are run by serious organised crime gangs, with money laundering taking place. The Commissioner concluded that if you are paying under £6.70 for a car wash, the employees of that business will be paid under the national minimum wage, though some employees were happy to be paid at that rate. 

Members discussed women who are presenting as sex workers, and if there are any questions being asked as to whether they are victims of modern slavery?  The Commissioner stated that her offices plan has a significant focus on the welfare of women, and noted that more needs to be done with sex workers to ensure they are not modern slavery victims. 

Members also brought up the issue of County Lines and the increase in these across the country and the links they have with modern slavery, particularly children.  Members questioned how public awareness of this issue could be raised?  The Commissioner responded that child referrals are on the increase because of County Lines – children are being forced to traffic drugs, and dealers are being prosecuted under modern slavery laws.  However, the Commissioner concluded that further awareness needs to be raised amongst middle classes drug users, as drug taking and purchasing is not a victimless crime and affects all people in the narcotics supply chain.  

The Chair thanked Dame Sara for her time and invited the Commissioner back to a future Board meeting, and stated the Board will continue to maintain a close focus on this work.

Decision

Members noted the update, and provided their views on future work in this area.