Mission and Public Affairs
Council
Submission by the Mission and Public Affairs Council to the Joint Committee on the
Draft Modern Day Slavery Bill
Executive summary
 We welcome the efforts provided by the Bill to consolidate and simplify existing
slavery and trafficking offences. These measures are likely to deter and disrupt
criminal networks.
 We believe that the independence of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner is pivotal and
the pre-requisite for many other measures. We recommend that the Commissioner
be a Crown Appointment and accountable to Parliament.
 We believe that the Modern Day Slavery Bill provides a unique opportunity to
tackle the issue of transparency in supply chains. We recommend that the
Committee includes in the Modern Day Slavery Bill measures similar to the
Transparency in UK Company Supply Chain (Eradication of Slavery) Bill to help
strengthen this Bill’s provisions in a way that is acceptable to business.
 The Bill should not just be about sharpening the law enforcement instruments on
the perpetrators, but vitally needs to address the care, support and protection of the
victims. It must ensure that victims, forced into criminal activities, are not
themselves criminalised. To this end we would recommend that the National
Referral Mechanism (NRM) be put on a statutory basis.
Introduction
1. The Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council is the body
responsible for overseeing research, policy and advocacy on social and political
issues on behalf of the Church of England’s Archbishop’s council. The Council
comprises a representative group of bishops, clergy and lay people with interest
and expertise in the relevant areas, and reports to the General Synod through the
Archbishops’ Council.
2. We are grateful to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Day
Slavery Bill for launching this inquiry. We hope that this inquiry will help surface
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the scale of this hidden and pernicious practice and the steps that Parliament can
take to abolish it entirely. Two hundred years after William Wilberforce’s success
in abolishing the slave trade, it is simply unacceptable that slavery continues today
in so many forms – bonded labour, child slavery, early and forced marriages,
descent based slavery, forced labour and human trafficking. The Government’s
commitment to legislate in this area provides Parliament with an opportunity to
agree a robust set of measures that set the standard for the rest of the world.
3. This submission is informed by a consultation on human trafficking and modern
day slavery held at Lambeth Palace in December 2013. This consultation involved
a number of faith and voluntary groups working in differing local contexts to
combat modern day slavery. This work often involves training community
networks to notice and respond to signs of enslavement as well as liaising with
statutory agencies in the provision of pastoral support to victims.
4. The Mission and Pubic Affairs Division of the Archbishop’s Council is working to
develop a practical strategy for tackling the impact of modern day slavery by
focussing on prevention, pastoral care and re-integration. The Church is working
with the Anglican Alliance for Relief Development and Advocacy to develop an
international Anglican network to help provide a more coordinated response to this
global phenomenon. We also acknowledge and are drawing on the long standing
experience of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.
5. Underpinning the Church’s response to modern day slavery is the recognition that
this most wicked of practices is incompatible with the dignity and worth of the
human being. It is a crime that must be clearly condemned and prosecuted.
As a Church we find it unacceptable that the conditions of global poverty are so
exploited that human beings, lovingly created in the image of God, are treated like
chattels to be traded at the highest price for the self-enrichment and betterment of
others.
Codification of existing offences
6. We welcome the efforts provided by the Bill to consolidate and simplify existing
slavery and trafficking offences. We also welcome the proposals to introduce new
forms of civil orders to enable prohibitions to be imposed by the courts on
individuals convicted of a slavery or trafficking offence or on individuals where
there is evidence that the individual is posing a risk of causing another person to be
a victim of slavery or trafficking for exploitation. We believe that these measures
are likely to deter and disrupt criminal networks.
7. We also welcome the steps set out in Clause 35 of the Bill imposing a duty on
specified public authorities to notify the National Criminal Agency where they
have reasonable grounds to suspect that a person may be the victim of human
trafficking. We note however that if this clause is to work as intended, namely to
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address the current low rates of identification, then it will be necessary for those
specified public authorities to develop suitable training programmes to assist their
staff to undertake this duty. We would also recommend that this duty to refer is
audited by relevant bodies.
Anti-Slavery Commissioner
8. We welcome the Home Secretary’s decision to include in the Draft Bill measures
to establish an Anti-Slavery Commissioner. We believe that if properly established
the new Anti-Slavery Commissioner can make a significant contribution in the
UK’s fight against this crime and in giving a voice to the concerns and welfare of
victims and survivors of modern day slavery. The Commissioner needs to be able
to speak across all parties, able to give voice to victims, provide strategic
leadership to combat modern slavery and, when necessary, launch inquiries and
publish findings to collectively tackle the issue and hold all persons working in this
area accountable. If the post of Commissioner has sufficient coordinating power,
then many other measures set out in the Draft Bill become possible.
9. To enable the Commissioner to take forward this work we believe that a
convincing case exists for the Commissioner to be a Crown Appointment held
accountable to Parliament through recourse to an annual report. With so many
government departments, local government agencies and NGOs working in their
own disparate ways to combat modern slavery we suggest that such arrangements
would help provide the necessary leadership to provide a coherent response.
10. We would welcome the Committee looking further into this issue. The existing
provisions of the Draft Bill risk politicising the Office and circumscribing the
powers of the Commissioner to encourage good practice in the prevention,
detention, investigation and prosecution of offences as set out under Part One of
the Draft Bill. If the Commissioner needs to be located in one Government
department, would it not make more sense to locate the Office with the Ministry of
Justice rather than the Home Office?
Transparency in Business supply chains
11. If we are to tackle modern slavery effectively any response must include and
empower business to ensure that there is no slavery in their supply and product
chains or business practices – there is no possible way to eradicate modern slavery
without them. We believe that the Modern Day Slavery Bill provides a unique
opportunity to tackle the issue of transparency in supply chains and we are
disappointed that the draft Bill does not do more.
12. We recognise the business sensitivities about legislating in this area and accept that
the matter is more complex than many let on. However, we believe many of the
measures in the Transparency in UK Supply Chains (Eradication of Slavery) Bill
provide a possible way forward. This Bill required businesses with a global
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turnover greater than £100 million to note on their websites and their annual
reports what they were doing - even if that amounted to nothing - to respond to the
possibility that there could be slavery in their supply chains.
13. This Bill, based on the California Transparency Supply Chains Act of 2010, was
drafted in this way precisely because it was acceptable to most businesses as it
provides a level playing field for all. It provides an entry point into a debate that is
often unhelpfully polarised and entrenched. We understand that in practice in
California this simple reporting requirement has resulted in hundreds of firms
taking their first step toward addressing this issue.
14. We accept that the inclusion of some similar measure within the Modern Day
Slavery Bill will not in itself solve the problem of slavery in supply chains, but it
would represent an important strategic first step.
Supporting the rights of victims
15. Much as we welcome efforts to consolidate and simplify existing slavery and
trafficking offences the Bill should not just be about sharpening the law
enforcement instruments on the perpetrators. It vitally needs to address the care,
support and protection of the victims. It must ensure that victims, forced into
criminal activities, are not themselves criminalised.
16. We recognise this is difficult to achieve in legislation without creating a carte
blanche immunity from prosecution which would create the potential for abuse. In
order to try and address this point we would like to see the National Referral
Mechanism (NRM) put on a statutory basis within legislation and for it to become
a two stage process with mandatory reporting by all designated first responders
and a part two if the adult victim wished to access services. All children must, as is
currently the case, be entered into the NRM.
17. It is important to ensure that victims of modern slavery are able to access legal
services, particularly in relation to complex issues such as their immigration status
or compensation claims. This is a vital aspect of victim support and fulfils the
Government’s obligations under the European Union directive on trafficking to
“ensure that victims of trafficking in human beings have access without delay to
legal counselling, and, in accordance with the role of victims in the relevant justice
system, to legal representation, including for the purpose of claiming
compensation.”
18. The EU directive also provides that ‘legal counselling and legal representation
shall be free of charge where the victim does not have sufficient financial
resources’. In our submission to the consultation on legal aid (31st May 2013) we
made the point that the exception made for victims of trafficking in the Legal Aid,
Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 should be carried over into the
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newly proposed changes to legal aid. We welcomed the Government’s response to
the consultation, which exempted victims of trafficking from the 12-month
residence test, but echo the concerns of the Joint Committee on Human Rights
(published 13th December 2013, Sections 129-131), and their recommendations
that all children should be exempted from the residence test, and that the
Government's exemptions be extended to cases where the status of the trafficking
victim is contested, and to legitimate challenges to failure to prosecute or
investigate.
19. We recognise that a number of organisations advocate that specific measures to
safeguard trafficked children including a system of legal guardianship, should be
incorporated into the Bill in order to address weaknesses in the current system that
frequently leave child victims at risk. We share their concern, but are conscious
that the current system and application of the Children’s Act is not functioning as
intended. These failings must be addressed as a matter of urgency. We worry that
introducing a system of legal guardianship to the piece would be adding yet
another layer to an already misfiring system.
20. Of greater priority, we feel, is the training of social services to recognise the signs
of modern slavery and trafficking and the entering of children into the NRM. The
need for safe and secure accommodation for trafficked children is a key missing
component and without this there is every likelihood that guardians will end up
being guardians of missing children.
21. Access to healthcare is essential for victims of modern slavery. Under the
proposals in the current Immigration Bill, migrants who have not paid the
immigration health charge will not be able to access free treatment within primary
care services. We warmly welcome the exemption which is included for victims of
trafficking. However, there are complexities and potential delay involved in the
identification of people as victims, and the new system could create a risk that
people will be anxious about presenting to services such as Accident and
Emergency, if there are uncertainties about whether they will be asked to pay.
22. There is also a need to give more attention, through staff training and operational
guidance and oversight, to the needs of people who may be victims of trafficking
but are detained, for example by police or in immigration removal centres. A
recent inspection report on Yarl’s Wood IRC (HM Inspectorate of Prisons,
October 2013) found that referrals were not always made to the NRM when there
were indicators of trafficking, and also that treatment did not take account of the
issue: “Some women’s histories of victimisation before detention, for example
because of abusive relationships or trafficking, meant that any experiences of
insensitive or inappropriate behaviour by detention staff were amplified for them.
There were too few female staff and women told us they were embarrassed by
male officers carrying out searches of their rooms and personal property. Staff had
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no specific training in recognising and managing the particular vulnerability of the
female population.”
23. We very much hope that when taking forward its inquiry the Committee will look
at ways in which the Draft Bill might strengthen the relationship between hard
pressed statutory agencies and faith and voluntary sectors to ensure that best
possible provision is made for the support of victims. The Metropolitan Police and
Hope for Justice are doing some pioneering work here that the Committee could
find helpful. Their work underlines that that this is a psychological issue as much
as one of receiving adequate legal support. Trafficked victims tend to be so
‘institutionalised’ by the experience that any recovery requires a different kind of
space and set of relationships, which faith and voluntary groups are best equipped
to provide. Providing pastoral support and welfare assistance helps to restore the
human dignity of those abused and build victims’ capacity to testify.
Mr Philip Fletcher
Chair, Mission and Public Affairs Council
February 2014
Mission and Public Affairs Council
Church House,
Great Smith Street,
London,
SW1P 3NZ
email: charles.reed@churchofengland.org
Telephone: 07590 255999
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