Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Paragraph: 57
The Transparency in Supply Chains legislation in the Modern Slavery Act was important when it...
Conclusion
The Transparency in Supply Chains legislation in the Modern Slavery Act was important when it was first introduced, but it has not kept pace with changes in business supply chains. The Modern Slavery Act is out of date, has no teeth, and we do not accept that businesses should be excused from doing basic due diligence to guarantee that their supply chains are fully transparent and free from forced labour and slavery.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government defends the pioneering nature of the Modern Slavery Act but acknowledges the need for improvement, stating it committed to strengthening the legislation in September 2020. It reiterates its expectation for businesses to be vigilant and conduct due diligence.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
57
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
33. The Transparency in Supply Chains legislation in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on their work to prevent and address risks of modern slavery in their operations and global supply chains. No business can consider themselves immune from the risks of modern slavery and, given the complexities of global supply chains, the Government expects companies to be constantly vigilant in assessing and addressing their risk exposure.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗