Recommendation 19

HM Government · verbatim extract Deferred

30. The Government shares the Committee’s concern on this issue, and we continue to address forced labour in global supply chains through Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. These provisions have resulted in a change in business culture, bringing discussion of modern slavery to the boardroom for the first time and providing transparency for consumers, investors and civil society. 31. To further enhance transparency, in March 2021, the Government launched the modern slavery statement registry to bring modern slavery statements together on a single platform. Since launch over 12,000 statements covering 43,000 organisations have been submitted to the registry on a voluntary basis. 32. Plans to strengthen Section 54 – including extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36m or more and introducing financial penalties for organisations who fail to publish statements – remain under review. The Government encourages businesses to monitor their supply chains with rigour, uncover and remedy any instances of modern slavery, upload statements to the registry and meet their legal reporting requirements. 33. With regards to the public sector, we have made great strides in recent years. The Committee will be aware of the modern slavery provisions in the Health and Care Act 2022, which requires the National Health Service to take steps to eradicate modern slavery in its supply chains. Last year, we passed the Procurement Act 2023, which provides contracting authorities with stronger powers to exclude and debar suppliers where there is compelling evidence of modern slavery within their supply chains. Additionally, the Cabinet Office published Procurement Policy Note 02/23, which provides guidance to contracting authorities on how to identify, mitigate and work with suppliers to address any issues of modern slavery found. 34. As the Prime Minister has made clear, current levels of migration to the UK are too high. There were 335,447 work visas granted to main applicants in the year ending September 2023, 35% higher than in the year ending September 2022, and two and half times more (+150%) than prior to the pandemic in the year ending September 2019. 35. On 4 December 2023, the Home Secretary announced measures which will allow us to better prioritise the skills and talent needed to grow the economy and support the NHS, while also encouraging investment and protecting the British workforce. These measures go alongside our extensive efforts to get more British people working. We have a record number of employees on payrolls - up nearly 400,000 in the last year alone, with 1.2 million more people in work than before the pandemic. Our £2.5 billion Back to Work plan will go further by helping thousands of people with disabilities, long-term health conditions and those in long-term unemployment, to move into jobs.