Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 32
First Report - Human trafficking
Published 8 Dec 2023
Paragraph 108
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee Human Trafficking All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Criminal justice practitioners, including the police in England and Wales, the National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service, must urgently review and then accelerate and scale up their efforts to investigate, prosecute and effectively adjudicate human trafficking and modern slavery cases. Cross-organisation working must support the priority goal of evidence gathering.
From: Home Affairs Committee, First Report - Human trafficking (HC 124), paragraph 108, 8 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 February 2024 (deadline 8 February 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it remains "committed to tackling the crime of modern slavery" and responds to each recommendation, accepting some points and declining others with stated reasons.
- On strategy and reporting, the government says it "will resume publication of an Annual Report on Modern Slavery" this year and "will also consider delivering a new modern slavery strategy".
- It does not accept the recommendation on a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation, saying it does "not believe a statutory definition is required" to ensure victims are supported.
- On the 12 months' support commitment for confirmed victims, it concluded that the existing needs-based approach ensures support is available "for the necessary length of time, including if this is 12 months, or longer".
- On Independent Child Trafficking Guardians, it remains committed to national rollout, which is "still subject to approval of business cases and funding arrangements", and says it will publish evaluations of the ICTG programme and devolved decision-making pilot.