Recommendation 8

HM Government Not Addressed

It is important for businesses to adhere to the UN Guiding Principles when considering their approach to modern slavery. Businesses should take heed of the updated Overseas Business Risk (OBR) guidance1 on Xinjiang to understand the human rights risks associated with links to that region and to take appropriate remedial action based on their circumstances. The Government encourages companies to follow both the OECD guidelines2 for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct and the blueprint laid out in the UN Guiding Principles3 on Business and Human Rights on how to conduct human rights due diligence. Generally, when businesses uncover issues, they should seek to work in partnership with their suppliers to remedy them and make continuous progress to prevent labour exploitation in their supply chains. Where this is not possible, businesses should reconsider their relationship with the supplier. Sadly, no business operating in any sector can consider themselves immune from the risks of modern slavery and the prevalence of this abhorrent practice. Businesses can have complex multi-tiered global supply chains which create significant challenges in having visibility over working conditions across all of their supply chains. The complexities of global supply chains mean that companies need to be constantly vigilant in assessing and addressing their risk exposure. It would therefore be impossible for the Government to comprehensively verify whether tens of thousands of companies have taken significant and evidenced action to prevent modern slavery throughout their global supply chains. The Government is not currently considering producing a whitelist of companies that have taken significant and clearly evidenced actions to rid their supply chains of forced labour in Xinjiang. We will continue to pursue a collaborative approach, helping businesses to make informed decisions for themselves. The Government is also working to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act (see response to recommendations 11 and 12). The Government recognises the role of transparency and importance of consumers, investors, civil society and others in driving change. That is why, as part of our planned work to strengthen the transparency in supply chains legislation, in March 2021 we launched a new Government-run registry. This will radically enhance transparency and accessibility of modern slavery statements by bringing them together in one place and enabling investors, consumers and civil society to scrutinise the action that different organisations are taking to prevent modern slavery. On the Committee’s recommendation to identify firms which have supply chain links to Xinjiang, HMG announced earlier this year that the FCDO will work with the Cabinet Office to provide guidance and support to UK government bodies to exclude suppliers, where there is sufficient evidence of human rights abuses in any of their supply chains. Decisions to exclude suppliers will be made on a case-by-case basis by central government contracting authorities when undertaking procurements, in line with public procurement regulations.