7 minute read
NEWS ANALYSIS
odern slavery has many faces: from women forced into prostitution and workers coerced into back-breaking labouring jobs, to children exploited in garment sweatshops. And it is not confi ned to developing countries: in the UK the number of modern slavery cases rose by more than a third between 2017 and 2018. On 14 March, the #MyFreedomDay event used the power of social media to shine a light on these secretive practices, organise anti-traffi cking events and remind the global community of the importance – and fragility – of freedom.
No supply chain among the UK’s private companies and public bodies can rid itself M
1 5 MINS
Everywhere in chains: end slavery MODERN SLAVERY
ryw h
#MyFreedomDay is a timely reminder that the UK needs to act more decisively to help eradicate the global scourge of modern slavery.
entirely from the risk of labour exploitation, notes deputy director of business change at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) Mark Heath. Potential victims of modern slavery and human traffi cking tracked through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the UK’s national helpline (see Resources, overleaf) – suggest they are on the rise.
The UK government responded in the form of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which rolled out important measures, including a requirement for business to report on actions to prevent slavery and human traffi cking (see cover feature on page 28). However, critics have long complained the legislation lacks any effective punitive measures on transparency (see Slave detectors, right). Around 40% of eligible companies do not comply with the transparency requirements of the act, an independent review commissioned by the Home Offi ce found, which only reinforces calls for more decisive government action (see Resources, overleaf). Currently, under section 54 of the act, only a private company with an annual turnover of £36m or more must publish a slavery and human traffi cking statement on its website, but there are no serious penalties if it fails to do so. And those who do report can even record merely that they have taken no action.
The review’s fi nal report, published in May last year, presented 80 recommendations to make the legislation more fi t for purpose. The Home Offi ce responded in July, agreeing with most of the amendments and launching a public consultation on transparency in supply chains. It has been proposed to extend the reporting requirements to large public sector organisations not currently captured by the legislation,
IOSH CPD
IOSH has developed a CPD course on modern slavery, which will run on 28 July in Cambridge (venue TBC) and 8 December (at The Grange).
Attendees will gain a greater insight into:
The different forms
of modern-day slavery.
The government strategy
and legal framework for the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
How and why victims
become involved in slavery.
Where victims could be located and identify the signs/risk indicators of how victims may present.
The tools for assessing and managing risk, preparing a modern slavery statement, and responding to an incident of modern slavery.
The National
Referral Mechanism.
bit.ly/IOSH-slavery-CPD
a move IOSH supports. The consultation closed in September and a Home Offi ce spokesperson told IOSH that it is analysing the feedback with plans to publish its response later this year. Building on the Cabinet Offi ce’s announcement last September of new measures to ensure central government supply chains are free from modern slavery, the Home Offi ce has also said it will voluntarily publish its fi rst modern slavery statement in the
S U P P LY C H A N G E
Slave detectors
Ian Sweet, former director of operations and strategy at the Offi ce of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, on slavery.
When the Modern Slavery Act 2015 fi rst came into force, businesses were encouraged to fi nd slavery and remove it from their supply chains. However, we’ve given businesses a grace period on doing that. It’s got to the point where we’ve now got to say to big business: ‘If we fi nd it in your supply chain, these are the unlimited fi nes you are facing.’ Our legislators haven’t really got to grips with that at the moment.
If you wanted to take it to the extreme, you could say the legislation is giving cover to businesses to continue with slavery in their supply chains. I say that because these businesses produce a slavery and human traffi cking statement once a year to say what they are doing as almost their insurance policy. That’s as far as they have to go. There needs to be a huge change in relation to eradicating it from the supply chain. It doesn’t matter what businesses say, if they are not compelled to take more decisive action, they won’t.
COUNTING THE COST
coming months – it was originally planned for December – setting out the steps it has taken to prevent modern slavery.
IOSH continues to advocate that government acts as an exemplar on procurement and has welcomed the Cabinet Offi ce’s procurement policy note (PPN 05/19), which applies to all existing contracts and, from 1 October 2019, any new procurement.
The government has also committed to creating a free, online central reporting service for posting fi rms’ modern slavery statements. Work is in its early stages and will focus on understanding user needs to inform the service’s design. IOSH, which delivered its response to the consultation in September, together with its white paper on modern slavery (see Resources, right), welcomes the development.
part of the Employment Bill to offer greater protections for workers. This augments an earlier public consultation that included questions on extending GLAA licensing on agriculture to other high-risk sectors such as construction and hospitality, which IOSH has previously called for. The Home Offi ce has said it will publish its consultation response in the coming months.
So with #MyFreedomDay going viral this month, what can employers do to step up to the plate? As Mark at the GLAA notes, it’s important to create an environment that encourages potential victims to talk to a colleague in confi dence about their concerns.
‘One of the things gaining a bit of traction and worth building on is looking at the way workers are treated holistically: worker welfare, wellbeing at work, good work and good recruitment,’ he says.
‘All of those things tied together encourage a conversation in the workplace that might be able to identify where people might be at risk or are even being exploited.’ RESOURCES
2019 independent review of the Modern Slavery Act: bit.ly/MSA-review UK government response to the review: bit.ly/MSA-UKG-response IOSH white paper on modern slavery, Tackling modern slavery together: iosh.com/ modernslaverywhitepaper 2019 UK Annual report on modern slavery: bit.ly/UK-modernslavery-report National Referral
Mechanism statistics Q3, 2019: bit.ly/NRM-Q3 Slavery in the UK The number of referrals of potential victims submitted to the NRM in 2018, a 36% increase on 2017 6985 Richard Jones, IOSH head of policy and regulatory engagement, says: ‘Better transparency and due diligence on preventing modern slavery in supply chains is a key IOSH public policy call on the new government – urging implementation of the independent review’s recommendations and other improvements.’
In particular, IOSH would like to see the government lower the £36m threshold to increase the number of organisations required to make disclosures. It has also called for better quality disclosures and for the government to drop the option for businesses to say they’ve taken no prevention steps. The government has said it will consult further in this area.
The Home Offi ce has twice written to CEOs of businesses identifi ed as being in scope of the legislation, outlining how to meet its obligations. It is currently undertaking an audit of compliance and told IOSH that it may publish a list of non-compliant businesses or seek injunctions against those that fail to comply. In a further move, the Queen’s speech at the state opening of Parliament in December mentioned a new ‘single enforcement body’ as 45% of these potential victims (3128) were exploited as children The number of modern slavery offences recorded by police in England and Wales in the year to March 2019, a 49% increase on the previous year 5059 different nationalities of potential victims: the most common were British, Albanian and Vietnamese The most common type of exploitation for both adults and minors was LABOUR EXPLOITATION 91
