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Select Committee · Home Affairs Committee

Human Trafficking

Status: Closed Opened: 7 Feb 2023 Closed: 24 May 2024 37 recommendations 66 conclusions 1 report

In this inquiry, launched in February 2023, the Home Affairs Committee is assessing the scale of human trafficking in the UK and the forms it takes. It also investigates whether Government policy, legislation and the criminal justice system can be improved to prevent human trafficking, prosecute perpetrators and protect victims. Read the terms of reference … Show more

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Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
First Report - Human trafficking HC 124 8 Dec 2023 103 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

6 items
7 Recommendation First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Home Office stakeholder engagement on modern slavery legislation remains unacceptably poor.

The Home Office’s approach to stakeholder engagement has been lackadaisical. It has taken the Home Office two years to launch a new formation of stakeholder groups (Modern Slavery Stakeholder Forums), during which time key legislation affecting victims of trafficking has been enacted with minimal or non-existent consultation with key human … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government welcomed a new Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner at the end of 2023, addressing the vacancy. It also committed to continuing to work closely with stakeholders through Modern Slavery Engagement Forums.
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Home Office
65 Recommendation First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Recruit 200 NRM decision-makers by end of 2023 and reduce attrition to 15%.

The Home Office must recruit the promised 200 National Referral Mechanism decision-makers by the end of 2023 and focus on reducing the attrition rate to 15%. This should be done through increased resourcing, training and support for ongoing staff, as well as through enhanced recruitment campaigns. We recommend that the … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government commits to increasing the NRM workforce and boosting productivity, addressing the recruitment aspect, but does not specifically commit to the target of 200 staff by end of 2023, reducing attrition to 15%, or collecting data on reasons for staff leaving.
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Home Office
66 Recommendation First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Publish quarterly statistics on Competent Authority staff numbers, roles, and attrition rates.

The Home Office should include in its quarterly National Referral Mechanism statistics data on the number of Competent Authority staff, setting out how many are Reasonable Grounds/Conclusive Grounds decision makers, how many are new staff, and giving the attrition rate of staff. Read more

Government response AI summary
The government states that quarterly NRM statistics already include data on the number of Competent Authority staff and that they will consider including additional data in future publications without compromising privacy.
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Home Office
90 Conclusion First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Devolved decision-making pilot for children lacks evaluation and excludes vulnerable groups.

We welcome the Home Office’s devolved decision-making pilot for children. However, we are concerned that more than two years into the pilot the Home Office has still not published an evaluation of its outcomes. Furthermore, we are concerned that the pilot excludes children within 100 days of their 18th birthday, … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government stated an initial evaluation was conducted and committed to publishing future evaluations of the pilot. They expanded the pilot to ten additional sites but rejected expanding the scope to include age-disputed children or those within 100 days of their 18th birthday due to …
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Home Office
91 Conclusion First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Publish interim and full evaluations of the devolved decision-making pilot for children.

The Home office must publish an interim evaluation of the devolved decision-making pilot for children by January 2024, and thereafter a full evaluation of all phases of the Pilot by June 2024. If the outcomes are successful, all decision making for children must be transferred to local authorities within one … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government committed to publishing evaluations of the devolved decision-making pilot to inform future policy, but did not specify deadlines or commit to transferring all decision-making to local authorities within a year as recommended, stating future expansion will be driven by various factors.
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Home Office
100 Conclusion First Report - Human trafficking Accepted in Part

Unaccompanied children in contingency accommodation highly vulnerable to trafficking and going missing.

Unaccompanied children living in contingency accommodation are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked, or re-trafficked. Between July 2021 and 19 October 2022, there were 391 episodes where children went missing from hotels. This is unacceptable. Read more

Government response AI summary
The government agrees that local authority care is best and has closed six of seven hotels for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children by November 2023, with the last closing in January 2024, directly addressing the vulnerability in contingency accommodation.
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Home Office

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions
Date Witnesses
19 Jul 2023 Andrew Patrick · Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Joanna West · Home Office, Matthew Bligh · Home Office, Miss Sarah Dines · Home Office, Rebecca Wyse · Home Office View ↗
5 Jul 2023 Assistant Chief Constable Jim Pearce · National Police Chiefs' Council, Caroline Haughey OBE KC · Furnival Chambers, Lynette Woodrow · Crown Prosecution Service, Rob Jones CBE · National Crime Agency, Stuart Peall · Lancashire Police View ↗
21 Jun 2023 Allyson Davies · Barnard's National Counter Trafficking Service, Danny Bayraktarova · Wilson Solicitors LLP, Elaine Bass · Home Office, James Fookes · Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), Laura Durán · ECPAT UK, Major Kathy Betteridge · Salvation Army, Siobhan Jolliffe · Home Office View ↗
7 Jun 2023 Dr. Ben Brewster · Rights Lab, University of Nottingham, Neelam Patankar · Digital Ventures, Professor Teela Sanders · University of Leicester, Rhoda Grant · Scottish Parliament View ↗
10 May 2023 Elysia McCaffrey · Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), Kate Roberts · Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), Ruth Breslin · The Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP), Sylvia Walby · Royal Holloway, University of London, Tatiana Gren-Jardan · Joint Modern Slavery Policy Unit Justice and Care and Centre for Social Justice View ↗
19 Apr 2023 Professor Dame Sara Thornton · The Rights Lab, University of Nottingham, The Rt Hon. the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE View ↗

Who gave evidence

28 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Allyson Davies · Assistant Director of Children’s Services Barnard's National Counter Trafficking Service 1
Andrew Patrick · Former UK Migration and Modern Slavery Envoy Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office 1
Assistant Chief Constable Jim Pearce · Lead for Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration… National Police Chiefs' Council 1
Caroline Haughey OBE KC · Barrister Furnival Chambers 1
Danny Bayraktarova · Public Law and Human Rights Solicitor Wilson Solicitors LLP 1
Dr. Ben Brewster · Research Fellow in Modern Slavery Perpetration Rights Lab, University of Nottingham 1
Elaine Bass · Director, National Returns Progression Command Home Office 1
Elysia McCaffrey · Chief Executive Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) 1
James Fookes · Chair Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) 1
Joanna West · Director of Tackling Exploitation and Abuse Home Office 1
Kate Roberts · Head of Policy Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) 1
Laura Durán · Head of Policy, Advocacy and Research ECPAT UK 1
Lynette Woodrow · Lead for Modern Slavery Crown Prosecution Service 1
Major Kathy Betteridge · Director for Anti-Trafficking and Modern Slavery Salvation Army 1
Matthew Bligh · Deputy Director for Policy on Illegal Migration Home Office 1
Miss Sarah Dines · Minister for Safeguarding Home Office 1
Neelam Patankar · Managing Director Digital Ventures 1
Professor Dame Sara Thornton The Rights Lab, University of Nottingham 1
Professor Teela Sanders · Professor of Criminology University of Leicester 1
Rebecca Wyse · Director of Tackling Exploitation and Abuse Home Office 1
Rhoda Grant · Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Scottish Parliament 1
Rob Jones CBE · Director General, National Economic Crime Centre … National Crime Agency 1
Ruth Breslin · Research Associate The Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) 1
Siobhan Jolliffe · Head of Single Competent Authority Home Office 1
Stuart Peall · Detective Sergeant Lancashire Police 1
Sylvia Walby · Professor of Criminology Royal Holloway, University of London 1
Tatiana Gren-Jardan · Head Joint Modern Slavery Policy Unit Justice and Care and Centre for Social Justice 1
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE — 1

Correspondence

3 letters
DateDirectionTitle
15 May 2024 To cttee Letter from the Home Secretary, regarding the Government’s Response to the Hum…
13 Mar 2024 To cttee Letter from the Chair to the Home Secretary regarding the Government’s Response…
12 Jul 2023 From cttee Letter to the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire on Adult Services Websites …