Human Trafficking

Home Affairs Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 7 Feb 2023 Closed: 24 May 2024 Parliament page
In this inquiry, launched in February 2023, the Home Affairs Committee is assessing the scale of human trafficking in the UK and the forms it takes. It also investigates whether Government policy, legislation and the criminal justice system can be improved to prevent human trafficking, prosecute perpetrators and protect victims. … Read more
37 Recommendations
66 Conclusions
1 Report
6 Oral sessions
3 Letters
6 Events
Activity timeline 17 events
15 May
2024
Correspondence
13 Mar
2024
Correspondence
22 Feb
2024
Report published
8 Dec
2023
Report published
19 Jul
2023
Oral evidence
19 Jul
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 16, Palace of Westminster
12 Jul
2023
Correspondence
5 Jul
2023
Oral evidence
5 Jul
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 8, Palace of Westminster
21 Jun
2023
Oral evidence
21 Jun
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 16, Palace of Westminster
7 Jun
2023
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 6 sessions
19 Jul 2023
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Andrew Patrick · Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Joanna West · Home Office Matthew Bligh · Home Office Miss Sarah Dines · Home Office Rebecca Wyse · Home Office
5 Jul 2023
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Assistant Chief Constable Jim Pearce · National Police Chiefs' Council Caroline Haughey OBE KC · Furnival Chambers Lynette Woodrow · Crown Prosecution Service Rob Jones CBE · National Crime Agency Stuart Peall · Lancashire Police
21 Jun 2023
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Allyson Davies · Barnard's National Counter Trafficking Service Danny Bayraktarova · Wilson Solicitors LLP Elaine Bass · Home Office James Fookes · Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) Laura Durán · ECPAT UK Major Kathy Betteridge · Salvation Army Siobhan Jolliffe · Home Office
7 Jun 2023
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Dr. Ben Brewster · Rights Lab, University of Nottingham Neelam Patankar · Digital Ventures Professor Teela Sanders · University of Leicester Rhoda Grant · Scottish Parliament
10 May 2023
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Elysia McCaffrey · Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) Kate Roberts · Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) Ruth Breslin · The Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) Sylvia Walby · Royal Holloway, University of London Tatiana Gren-Jardan · Joint Modern Slavery Policy Unit Justice and Care and Centre for Social Justice
19 Apr 2023
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Professor Dame Sara Thornton · The Rights Lab, University of Nottingham The Rt Hon. the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE
Title HC No. Published Items Response
First Report - Human trafficking HC 124 8 Dec 2023 103 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
12 results
Clear
3 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Home Office policy shift hinders modern slavery strategy and victim protection efforts.
The Home Office’s shift in policy focus to irregular migration is also demonstrated by the Government’s long delay in producing a new Modern Slavery Strategy and by the recent transfer of elements of responsibility for modern slavery and human trafficking … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the importance of a modern slavery strategy, stating it will resume publishing an Annual Report on Modern Slavery this year and will consider delivering a new strategy. It defends its approach to tackling modern slavery and migration together, implicitly addressing the observed transfer of ministerial responsibility.
Home Office
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8 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Modern Slavery Unit prioritises Illegal Migration Act over preventing human trafficking.
The Modern Slavery Unit’s outputs, including belated information about its new model for stakeholder engagement (Modern Slavery Stakeholder Forums) is opaque to say the least. We deeply regret that a unit comprising 56 staff has prioritised work on the Illegal … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the committee's report and the focus on illegal migration, but asserts its continued commitment to tackling modern slavery with an expansive system of work, noting that efforts remain under review.
Home Office
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12 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Insufficient enforcement of Sexual Offences Act fails to deter those who buy sex.
Enforcement of the current provisions of Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is insufficient to deter those who buy sex.
Government Response
The government acknowledges the committee's observation by explaining the nature of Section 53A and stating that police prioritize investigating more serious modern slavery crimes due to higher penalties, justifying current enforcement practices.
Home Office
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31 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Low prosecution rates for human trafficking and modern slavery cases remain unacceptable.
The high number of referrals into the National Referral Mechanism and the number of live investigations together highlight the ability to identify human trafficking and exploitation that occurs in the UK. These cases are resource-intensive and potentially complex; however, the … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the importance of pursuing and prosecuting human trafficking offenses and states its commitment to driving up prosecution rates through collaboration with law enforcement agencies.
Home Office
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32 Recommendation Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Accelerate efforts to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate human trafficking and modern slavery cases.
Criminal justice practitioners, including the police in England and Wales, the National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service, must urgently review and then accelerate and scale up their efforts to investigate, prosecute and effectively adjudicate human trafficking and modern slavery … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the importance of pursuing and prosecuting human trafficking offenses and states its commitment to driving up prosecution rates through collaboration with law enforcement agencies.
Home Office
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38 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Centralise modern slavery training and prioritise resourcing for national law enforcement efforts.
Training should be centralised, for example via the National Police Chiefs’ Council Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration training resources. Tackling human trafficking should be recognised as a national law enforcement priority and be resourced at a level commensurate with the … Read more
Government Response
The government states it keeps relevant legislation under regular review and will continue to work with voluntary and community sector organisations to help individuals exit prostitution and sex work, without addressing the specific calls for centralised training or declaring human trafficking a national law enforcement priority.
Home Office
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45 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Proactively consider evidence-led prosecutions for human trafficking, applying domestic abuse guidance.
It is the case that investigations into all forms of human trafficking should proactively consider an evidence-led prosecutions approach, with the CPS guidance on domestic abuse and evidential opportunities being transferable to human trafficking.
Government Response
The government describes existing guidance and training provided by the CPS and the College of Policing.
Home Office
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46 Recommendation Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Include evidence-led prosecution guidance in Home Office, CPS, and College of Policing modern slavery materials.
The Home Office should include a section on evidence-led prosecutions in its modern slavery statutory guidance drawing on Article 27 (1) of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT). Similarly, the Crown Prosecution Service … Read more
Government Response
The government describes existing guidance and training provided by the CPS and the College of Policing.
Home Office
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47 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
NCA resources diverted from modern slavery, impacting UK and international anti-trafficking efforts.
The National Crime Agency’s (NCA) remit is not only international but also includes internal organised crime group threats. The NCA’s work has been mostly diverted to focus on tackling smuggling upstream, in line with the Government’s focus on organised immigration … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the committee's observation by reiterating that modern slavery remains a priority for the NCA, and justifies its focus on illegal migration by highlighting the close links between modern slavery and migration.
Home Office
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59 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Victim Navigator role essential for victim support and building criminal justice cases
The role fulfilled by Victim Navigators is essential to supporting victims in the criminal justice process and enabling investigation teams to build evidential cases.
Government Response
The government acknowledges the crucial role of Victim Navigators and states its commitment to ensuring they have the resources and training needed, while working with Victim Support to improve service provision.
Home Office
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63 Recommendation Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Report on waiting times and referral status duration in annual and quarterly statistics.
The Home Office should report in its annual and quarterly statistics on the waiting times for all cases within the system, the amount of time for which referrals are suspended, withdrawn, or closed, so that a better picture can be … Read more
Government Response
The government recognizes the importance of transparency and data and states it will keep under review what additional data can be published without compromising ongoing investigations and mentions steps taken to improve timeliness of NRM decision-making.
Home Office
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72 Conclusion Acknowledged
First Report - Human trafficking
Changes to NRM impacting victims and First Responders, reducing positive decisions.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and revisions to the Modern Slavery statutory guidance have changed the amount and type of evidence required for a potential victim to be referred into the National Referral Mechanism decision-making process. It is unclear … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the committee's observations about the impact of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 on NRM decisions, stating they are monitoring and evaluating these changes and that the decline in positive Reasonable Grounds decisions is the intended outcome for robust decision-making.
Home Office
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Government Response AI assessment · 103 of 37 classified
Accepted 17
Accepted in Part 6
Acknowledged 12
Deferred 46
Not Addressed 7
Rejected 15
Total 37 recs + 66 conclusions
Correspondence 3 letters
15 May 2024 To committee Letter from the Home Secretary, regarding the Government’s Response to the Human Trafficking report, dated 2 May 2024
Parliament page
13 Mar 2024 To committee Letter from the Chair to the Home Secretary regarding the Government’s Response to the Human Trafficking inquiry, dated 7 March 2024
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12 Jul 2023 From committee Letter to the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire on Adult Services Websites (ASWs), dated 5 July 2023
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