Modern Slavery Bill

Page 31, line 15, after “practice” insert “, both in the United Kingdom and
throughout the world,”

Page 32, line 36, at end insert—

“(11)    The Commissioner must monitor slavery and human trafficking taking
place around the world, and to enable him to do so the Secretary of State
shall require each embassy and high commission of the United Kingdom to
submit an annual report on slavery and human trafficking in its area of
operation to the Commissioner.

(12)     Each annual report under subsection (11) shall set out, in respect of the
relevant area of operation—

(a)   the extent and nature of slavery and human trafficking;

(b)   any legislative and enforcement measures in place;

(c)   details of any care, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims;

(d)   any relevant initiatives supported by the United Kingdom
Government; and

(e)   any relevant activities of international bodies or non-governmental
organisations.”

Page 33, line 8, at end insert “including the annual reports submitted by embassies
and high commissions of the United Kingdom”

Page 33, line 28, at end insert—

“( )   a statement of the nature and extent of slavery and human
trafficking both in the United Kingdom and in the areas about
which the Commissioner has received reports from embassies and
high commissions of the United Kingdom”

Page 34, line 34, at end insert—

“( )     For the purposes of this section, “specified public authority” shall also
include all embassies and high commissions of the United Kingdom.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“The National Referral Mechanism

The Secretary of State may make regulations to establish a statutory
National Referral Mechanism.”

Page 38, line 13, at end insert—

“(1A)    Support and assistance for physical, psychological and social recovery
must be provided to persons—

(a)   where a reference relating to that person has been, or is about to be,
made to the competent authority for a determination for the
purposes of Article 10 of the Trafficking Convention as to whether
there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person is a victim
of trafficking in human beings; and

(b)   until a determination is made by a competent authority that the
person is not a victim of trafficking in human beings; and

(c)   in accordance with guidance issued under subsection (1B).

(1B)    The Secretary of State must issue guidance, to such public authorities and
other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate, about
arrangements for providing assistance and support in accordance with
subsection (1A), and the assistance and support provided under this
guidance must—

(a)   meet international obligations for the services that victims are
entitled to receive in relation to—

(i)   appropriate and safe accommodation;

(ii)   material assistance for day-to-day living;

(iii)   medical advice and treatment, including psychological
assistance and counselling;

(iv)   appropriate information on any matter of relevance or
potential relevance to the particular circumstances of the
person;

(v)   translation and interpretation services;

(vi)   legal advice and representation;

(vii)   assistance in applying for compensation;

(viii)   assistance with repatriation;

(b)   not be conditional on the willingness of the person to act as a
witness in any criminal proceedings;

(c)   take due regard of the victim’s need for safety and protection,
including the opportunity to receive assistance from a person of the
same gender;

(d)   meet minimum standards for such support set out by the Secretary
of State in the guidance published under this subsection;

(e)   ensure that any assistance and support provided to a child shall
have the child’s best interests as the primary consideration;

(f)   ensure that assistance and support provided to an adult must be
provided with their agreement; and

(g)   be subject to regular audit to ensure that it is meeting the conditions
set out in this subsection.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Slavery and human trafficking statements

(1)     For each financial year, a commercial organisation within subsection (2)
must prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement.

(2)     A commercial organisation is within this subsection if it—

(a)   supplies goods or services, and

(b)   has a total turnover in respect of that financial year of not less than
£60 million or such lesser amount as may be prescribed by
regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(3)     For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), an organisation’s total turnover is to
be determined—

(a)   by reference to the activities of that organisation worldwide;

(b)   by aggregating the worldwide turnover of that organisation with
any other organisation which forms part of the same group
undertaking; and

(c)   otherwise in accordance with regulations made by the Secretary of
State.

(4)     A slavery and human trafficking statement for a financial year is—

(a)   a statement of the steps the organisation has taken during the
financial year to identify and address slavery and human
trafficking—

(i)   in any of its supply chains, and

(ii)   in any part of its own business,

and which complies with the minimum requirements set out in subsection (5); or

(b)   a statement that the organisation has taken no such steps with an
explanation of why the organisation considers such conduct to be
appropriate.

(5)     A slavery and human trafficking statement shall give details of—

(a)   actions taken to assess the risk of the presence of slavery and human
trafficking in the organisation’s operations and throughout its
supply chains;

(b)   who has been involved in the assessment of such risks and the
extent to which such persons are independent of the organisation;

(c)   what risks have been identified, and what action has been taken to
mitigate any risks which have been identified;

(d)   whether any slavery or human trafficking has been identified and,
if so, what steps have been taken to address it, including action to
support victims;

(e)   the extent to which information for assessment and monitoring has
been gathered directly at suppliers’ sites and whether such
information has been verified by independent persons; and

(f)   any such other matters that may be specified in regulations made
by the Secretary of State under this section.

(6)     The organisation must publish the slavery and human trafficking
statement in each of the following ways—

(a)   if the organisation has a website, it must—

(i)   publish the slavery and human trafficking statement on that
website, and

(ii)   include a link to the slavery and human trafficking
statement in a prominent place on that website’s homepage;

(b)   upload the slavery and human trafficking statement report to the
website maintained for that purpose by the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills under subsection (8);

(c)   an organisation which is obliged to prepare a director’s report in
accordance with section 415 of the Companies Act 2006 shall
include in that report—

(i)   the name of any director who has taken responsibility for
slavery and human trafficking issues within the
organisation (or a statement that no director has taken
responsibility),

(ii)   a fair summary of the slavery and human trafficking
statement, and

(iii)   the web address where a copy of the report may be found,
or if the company does not have a website a statement that
a copy of the report will be provided on written request.

(7)     If the organisation does not have a website, it must provide a copy of the
slavery and human trafficking statement to anyone who makes a written
request for one and must do so before the end of the period of 30 days
beginning with the day on which the request is received.

(8)     The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shall maintain a
website—

(a)   on which it shall publish slavery and human trafficking statements
which are uploaded to the website or delivered to it under
subsection (6)(b);

(b)   in a form in which the published data is freely searchable by the
public.

(9)     The Secretary of State—

(a)   may issue guidance about the duties imposed on commercial
organisations by this section; and

(b)   must publish any such guidance.

(10)     Evidence under subsection (9) may in particular set out the kind of
information in addition or supplemental to that set out in subsection (5)
which may be included in a slavery and human trafficking statement.

(11)     The duties imposed on commercial organisations by this section are
enforceable by any of the Secretary of State, the Independent Anti-slavery
Commissioner, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Financial
Reporting Council; or such other person as may be specified by way of
regulation, any of whom may bring civil proceedings in the High Court for
an injunction or, in Scotland, for specific performance of a statutory duty
under section 45 of the Court of Session Act 1988.

(12)     Where a commercial organisation is in breach of any duty under this
section, the commercial organisation and every director, partner, or other
person occupying an equivalent position shall have committed an offence.

(13)     It is a defence for any person charged with an offence under subsection (12)
to prove that he took all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with this
section.

(14)     A person guilty of an offence under subsection (12) is liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on
conviction on indictment to a fine.

(15)     This section shall be reviewed by the Secretary of State 3 years after the
section comes into force and following this review the Secretary of State
shall lay before Parliament a report assessing the effectiveness of the
section and recommending whether any amendments should be made.

(16)     For the purposes of this section—

“commercial organisation” means—

(a)   a body corporate (wherever incorporated) which carries on
a business, or part of a business, in any part of the United
Kingdom, or

(b)   a partnership (wherever formed) which carries on a
business, or part of a business, in any part of the United
Kingdom,

and for this purpose “business” includes a trade or profession;

“group undertaking” shall have the meaning set out in section 1162 of
the Companies Act 2006;

“partnership” means—

(a)   a partnership within the Partnership Act 1890,

(b)   a limited partnership registered under the Limited
Partnerships Act 1907, or

(c)   a firm, or an entity of a similar character, formed under the
law of a country outside the United Kingdom;

“slavery and human trafficking” means—

(a)   conduct which constitutes an offence under any of the following—

(a)   section 1, 2 or 4 of this Act,

(b)   section 57, 58, 58A or 59 of the Sexual Offences Act
2003 (trafficking for sexual exploitation),

(c)   section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003
(traffic in prostitution etc),

(d)   section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment
of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 (trafficking for
exploitation),

(e)   section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
(slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory
labour),

(f)   section 47 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing
(Scotland) Act 2010 (slavery, servitude and forced or
compulsory labour), or

(b)   conduct which would constitute an offence in a part of the
United Kingdom under any of those provisions if the
conduct took place in that part of the United Kingdom;

“supply chain” means those raw materials, purchases, processes,
products, labour, services and transportation by means of which
the company’s goods and services whether or not for sale to
customers are acquired, manufactured, assembled or otherwise
produced from their original source up to and including their sale
or provision to the company’s customers; but a company’s supply
chain shall not include those products and services that are
acquired, rented, leased or otherwise used by a company for a
purpose which is incidental or ancillary to the matters referred to in
the definition of supply chain above.”

Page 39, line 28, at end insert—

“( )     A commercial organisation within subsection (2) must send a copy of its
slavery and human trafficking statement to the Independent Anti-slavery
Commissioner for each financial year of the organisation.”