Baroness Suttie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Suttie on 2015-10-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to keep records on the amount of compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation through (1) the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, (2) civil claims for damages, (3) employment tribunal claims, (4) court-awarded criminal compensation, and (5) repayments for breaches of the National Minimum Wage.

Lord Bates

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority does not provide data breakdown of compensation awarded to victims by crime type. This is because it awards compensation in line with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme tariff of injuries rather than by the type of incident that led to those injuries.

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) administers civil claims, employment tribunal claims, and court-awarded criminal compensation. Civil claims and employment tribunal claims do not deal with cases where a crime has been alleged, so data is not recorded on victims of modern slavery. For court-awarded criminal compensations, the sentence passed on offenders for each offence committed is recorded, including any compensation awarded. This data is not cross-referenced against compensation received by victims of the offence, so compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation is not recorded.

There are no plans to change the way data is collected by CICA or HMCTS that would provide the information sought about compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation.

HMRC work with the police, Home Office and local authorities in cases that may involve slavery and servitude. HMRC do not collate specific data on arrears identified but are currently reviewing ways to record any National Minimum Wage outcomes in Modern Slavery cases they undertake.