Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 77
First Report - Human trafficking
Published 8 Dec 2023
Paragraph 226
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)
We recommend that the Government publishes thorough and accurate data to support its assertions of significant abuse of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to claim asylum to enable objective assessment of the scale of the problem. This data should include: NRM decision outcomes for people who arrive in the UK on small boats; the number of victims positive Conclusive Grounds NRM decisions who receive a grant 80 Human trafficking of Temporary Permission to Stay (and other forms of leave) to remain in the UK; those referred to the NRM who claim asylum, and their asylum outcomes, combined with their NRM referrals and outcomes; and the number and characteristics of people in immigration detention and prison who are referred to the NRM and their NRM decision outcomes.
From: Home Affairs Committee, First Report - Human trafficking (HC 124), paragraph 226, 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.