David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on rolling out independent child trafficking advocates.

Karen Bradley

The Government is committed to introducing appropriate support for trafficked children. It is important we get these structures right however, given the significant risks to these children.

In line with the requirements of Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Government laid a report before Parliament in December 2015 setting out the steps we proposed to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates. The full report can be obtained here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-child-trafficking-advocates-trial-government-report

Since December 2015, we have worked to address issues identified during the trial. We have engaged with Members of both Houses, the offices of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Children’s Commissioner for England. We have also sought views from the voluntary sector and statutory organisations in England and Wales. This engagement has been valuable in assessing how best to deliver an improved service for trafficked children in England and Wales.

As part of this engagement, I wrote to the Chairs of the three All Party Parliamentary Groups with the strongest interest in the trial in March, saying that I would wait to receive their views in writing before making a statement to the House about how we will proceed. This week I received letters from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. I am reflecting on their recommendations and will provide an update to Parliament once we have had an opportunity to consider their valuable input.