Open letter to the Home Secretary on why the Modern Slavery Act isn't working in practice
3 min read
Public Accounts Committee member, Anne Marie Morris MP writes an open letter to the newly appointed Home Secretary Sajid Javid urging him to deliver on the Prime Minister's promise to reduce modern slavery.
Dear Sajid,
The Public Accounts Committee, on which I sit, today issued a clear message to government. The Modern Slavery Act, a landmark piece of human rights legislation, isn’t working in practice. The committee sets out several reasons why. This is the latest of several reviews including a report from the Work and Pensions Select Committee setting out outstanding implementation challenges which the government needs to address.
But this is not just about money and it’s not just about process, while of course they play a part. This is about every single one of us understanding, believing in, and being prepared to play our part in stamping out slavery. And it is for the government to give us the tools to do this. Slavery is taking place up and down the country, and in every small town and village. When we get our car washed for a very cheap price, when we choose a cheap nail bar without asking ourselves why, we join the silent majority of acceptance.
Around half of modern slaves are British, often some of the most vulnerable in our society. Many others are trafficked from abroad with a promise of a new life. Their trafficker goes with them to get a national insurance number, then to open a bank account and then to dupe an employment agency. Then they find themselves working in some of the most unpleasant jobs which have to be done manually, like the final sort at the waste tip. The wages go directly into the traffickers account – and this is better money at minimum wage than that earned on the black market construction sites.
Full marks to those companies who do take their responsibility to stamp out slavery seriously. They pay for a full audit of their supply chain, they train their staff and they look to rehabilitate those they find enslaved. Only 30% of businesses required to do so produce and publish a report. The law should require a report on slavery be included in a company’s social responsibility statement as part of the corporate governance requirements under the Company’s Act. This would then be properly scrutinised and reported on very publicly.
For small businesses, licenses to trade should be subject to a slave free statement with evidence. A licence slave free logo prominently displayed would enable a consumer to make a real choice not just about price. The current obligation for a company to prepare a supply chain report which is neither published in its accounts nor policed and enforced by government is commendable but not much more.
Prosecutions, particularly successful ones are few and far between. Why? First of all because the definition of what slavery is and the new legislation’s overlap with other legislation, leaves a very grey area, a lawyers paradise. Second because a number of those who are in contact with slaves, do not know how to identify them or how to refer them for help. Many with a responsibility to report and refer have no training. And finally because a successful prosecution requires evidence from the slave. But with no support, and no help to rehabilitate fully after they have been identified as slaves (unlike asylum seeker), they disappear. Only 6% of the crimes reported in the year to March 2017 led to summonses or charges.
As one of your early first steps as Home Secretary, can I urge you to act, to deliver on the Prime Minister's promise to reduce modern slavery.
Anne Marie Morris MP
(Member of the Public Accounts Committee & Conservative MP for Newton Abbot)
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