Letter from Alan Campbell MP,
Parliamentary Under-secretary, Home Office, on Human Trafficking,
dated 7 October 2008
Thank you for your letter of 17 September to my predecessor
Vernon Coaker MP.
I am pleased to write to you in answer to your questions
following the publication of the updated Action Plan on Tackling
Human Trafficking, the explanatory memorandum to the Council of
Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
and Vernon Coaker's response to Anthony Steen MP of 18 August
in reply to the Westminster Hall debate of 8 July.
Please refer to Annex A as the attached answer to
your questions.
Annex A
Q. Do you have a specific target date for ratification?
As the Home Secretary announced on Monday 14th
January 2008, our intention is to ratify the Convention before
the end of the year. We remain on track to do so. I am unable
to provide an exact date as the plans for implementation still
lie before Parliament in the form of and Explanatory Memorandum.
Q. It would also be helpful if you could specify
the provisions in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
which are related to ratification of the Convention; and the issues
which are being dealt with in the secondary legislation mentioned
in your speech as well as the timetable for bringing these measures
into force.?
The provisions of the Criminal Justice and Immigration
Act 2008 which are related to the Convention are in Section 146.
This amendment provides that the Secretary of State does not automatically
deport a person where she thinks this would be contrary to the
United Kingdom's obligations under the Convention - three full
calendar months after ratification.
Secondary legislation introduced by the Department
of Health and the Devolved Administrations will ensure victims
of trafficking can access appropriate health care in accordance
with the Convention. All is due to be in force before the end
of the year. The Scottish Statutory Instrument 2008/259 on Human
Tissue legislation entered into force on 24th June
2008 and makes and amendment to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment
of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 in section 4(4)(b) where reference
to offences committed under the 1989 Act is replaced with a reference
to the 2006 Act.
The Governments action plan refers to "further
amendments" to immigration legislation which have been proposed
by the Crown Prosecution Service (page 16). Could you provide
a fuller explanation of these proposed amendments and indicate
when they will be published?
The CPS proposed amendments to immigration legislation
to improve our ability to investigate and prosecute trafficking
cases. These amendments were subsequently made within the UK Borders
Act 2007, which came into force at the end of January 2008. The
provision to extend our powers to enable us to prosecute non-British
Nationals who commit offences outside the UK will overcome difficulties
in prosecuting cases where the trafficking has been arranged by
non-British citizens who are resident outside the UK.
There are no current plans for further amendments
to the existing legislation. We shall of course consider any proposed
amendments in order to ensure the legislation remains as effective
as possible.
Q. It would be helpful if we could be provided
with a comprehensive account of the outcome of Pentameter 2, focusing
in particular on how many victims of trafficking were discovered
and what subsequently happened to them.
The police reported that 167 victims of trafficking
for sexual exploitation were discovered under Pentameter 2, of
which 13 were identified initially as being under 18yrs. Five
possible victims of trafficking victims for forced labour were
also uncovered during the campaign (predominantly for trafficking
for domestic servitude).
According to the latest information from the UK Human
Trafficking Centre:
- Of the 13 minors originally
encountered, 6 remain in the care of social services, 6 voluntarily
returned home and 1 currently lives with friends, having been
subsequently confirmed as being over 18yrs.
- Out of the adults recovered: 37 initially accepted
supported accommodation (with 4 currently remaining in these services
and 3 moving into private living arrangements); 36 returned home
voluntarily; and 16 have been returned home using immigration
powers. Even with the cases that involved removal using immigration
powers these individuals refused any form of support and many
requested to be returned home quickly (and this was the most suitable
mechanism).
There is no information on the other victims. Despite
having the support arrangements in place, a significantly high
number of victims were unwilling to engage. This is not a problem
that is unique to the UK. The police and NGO's cannot force adults
to accept support or report a crime. What they can do is let them
know that there is protection available if they need it. We now
have to take the lessons learnt from P2 and work with communities
and the women that are recovered to understand the issues around
the different forms of coercion and improve our intervention strategies.
Intelligent date on victims
The police have identified a range of nationalities
of victims from China/South East Asia, Europe, both EU and non
EU, South America and the Indian Sub-Continent. In respect of
the adults discovered a high number were from China, Thailand,
and Romania.
For sexual exploitation the ages of victims ranged
from 14-49yrs with the highest number of victims identified by
the police as being aged between 18 and 13. For trafficking for
forced labour the ages ranged between 13 and 45 (with 3 out of
the 5 victims recovered children).
Victims were recovered across the United Kingdom
in both urban and rural areas. There appears to be a fairly equal
spread amongst a number of the regional areas (London, East Midlands,
South West and the Eastern Region). Fifteen victims were recovered
in Scotland (all for sexual exploitation). A high number of residential
premises were visited (582 out of the 822) representing the covert
nature of these crimes.
Q. We would also be grateful to receive more information
about the ongoing operation targeting trafficking for labour exploitation.
The operational phase of the pilot was completed
on 5 September. The results of the pilot are currently being assessed
and will be used to inform decision making on the implementation
of the Council of Europe Convention, including in terms of providing
appropriate victim care arrangements and training for front line
staff.
Whilst the pilot had its limitations both in terms
of geographical scope and the agencies it engaged, it did reveal
more information about the nature and extent of trafficking for
forced labour in the UK. The picture is still very partial and
further work is ongoing to improve the knowledge. The pilot found
very limited firm evidence of trafficking for forced labour but
other intelligence suggests that does exist. There was more evidence
of low level labour exploitation than of mistreatment of workers
so serious as to make it the crime of trafficking.
Q. When will more up-to-date and comprehensive
statistics about the prevalence of human trafficking and the disruption
of trafficking networks be available?
The secretive and deceptive nature of the crime itself
makes it very difficult to provide an entirely accurate estimate
of the scale of the problem faced by the UK. However, we are currently
in the process of reviewing our estimate of the number of trafficking
victims in the UK and will publish the outcome of this review
as soon as is practicable. We have no plans to publish details
of work undertaken to disrupt trafficking networks.
Q. Could you provide more details of these proposals
(for Convention compliant victim support based on the Poppy model),
including their geographic extent and the level and duration of
funding arrangements?
The Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group on Human
Trafficking agreed to implement a holistic three-stage approach
to supporting adult victims. It has been agreed that in the short
term an adult Victim Support model similar to the existing POPPY
Project will be used, where Third Sector or other agencies are
funded to provide support, including accommodation and living
expenses for individuals with no recourse to public funds, during
the reflection period. We expect the enhanced model to be on a
national scale (perhaps through a consortium arrangement) and
may require competitive tendering. The long-term intention is
to explore the feasibility of devolving responsibility
and funding (at least in part) to a regional or local level, in
line with other Government policy.
Q. Could you provide more details of the UKHTC
campaign in Bulgaria and Romania which has been "reduced
or refocused," including the objectives of the campaign's
success. It would also be helpful if you could explain how the
work undertaken during the campaign is being continued despite
the withdrawal of FCO funding and whether you consider that the
new arrangements will be more successful in achieving their objectives
than the previous campaign.
The campaign in Bulgaria and Romania was a time limited
project that took place at the time of both countries accession
to the EU prior to the FCO strategy refresh. Following the strategy
refresh FCO posts abroad continue to assist the UK's strategic
objective to combat human trafficking.
The campaign managed by the UKHTC and the International
Organisation for Migration was supported by funds from the FCO
Drugs and Crime Fund and was aimed at raising awareness among
the general population of the dangers of human trafficking and
to build the capacity of forced in both those countries to deal
with such issues. As a result of this campaign there has been
a sustained and improved relationship between the Romanian and
Bulgarian police forces with the relevant UK law enforcement agencies.
There has been no formal evaluation of the awareness raising campaign
which at the time received widespread coverage via the media,
both written and television in those countries.
Q. CEDAW request for UK to give consideration
to "granting victims of trafficking indefinite leave to remain"
and to "increase its efforts at international, regional and
bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination
in order to prevent trafficking, bring perpetrators to justice
and to improve reintegration to prevent victimisation."
We maintain our belief that where appropriate repatriation
is central to assisting the victims in their recovery. We are
also aware that a significant number of victims want to leave
the UK once they have been recovered. However, we accept that
there may be cases where it is appropriate to grant permission
to remain and each case will be considered on its own merits.
The UK will continue to work with all countries in
order to further the UK strategy as set out in the UK Action Plan.
DfiD continues to play a leading role in the fight against poverty
and injustice to address factors that make people vulnerable to
trafficking and continues to support programmes that are specifically
focussed on the prevention of trafficking such as Save the Children's
Cross-Border Project Against Trafficking. The UK continues to
build capacity in source and transit countries to deal with organised
immigration crime as part of the UK Organised Crime Control Strategy.
SOCA co-ordinate a multi agency programme which includes work
to develop bilateral and multi lateral operational strategies
and plans with source and transit countries. This includes the
management of 140 liaison officers based in 40 countries.
Finally, the UKHTC prevention subgroup continues
to provide strategic level direction in the planning and implementation
of prevention and awareness raising campaigns in identified transit
and source countries. Following Pentameter 2 and other operations
on source countries this group will target efforts where they
are most needed.
Letter to Alan Campbell MP, Parliamentary
Under-secretary, Home Office, on Human Trafficking, dated 9 December
2008
As you know, my Committee has long taken an interest
in human trafficking. We published a major report on the subject
in 2006 and have been in regular correspondence with you and your
predecessor about the arrangements for ratifying the Council of
Europe Convention on Human Trafficking.
We wrote to your predecessor on 17 September to ask
when the Government would ratify the Council of Europe Convention
on Human Trafficking and you replied to say that the Government
remained on track to ratify by the end of the year. You were unable
to provide a target date for ratification, however. Given that
we are now days away from the end of the year, I would be grateful
if you could advise the Committee of when ratification is likely
to take place.
We also noted press reports in November that the
Metropolitan Police's human trafficking team will be closed down
next year because it will no longer receive funding from the Home
Office. I would be grateful if you could send us a memorandum
explaining the funding arrangements for the team and the reasons
why Home Office funding will cease in 2009. I note from your answer
of 26 November to a parliamentary question tabled by Damian Green
MP that "additional funding provided to forces to tackle
human trafficking has always been on a time limited, pump priming
basis to encourage forces to mainstream this work into their existing
budgets ". I would be grateful if you could indicate what
assessment you have made of whether the Metropolitan Police is
now tackling human trafficking as part of its mainstream work
and how the team's work will be carried on in future.
Letter from Rt Hon John Hutton
MP, Secretary of State for Defence on UN Convention Against Torture,
dated October 2008
In its twenty-eighth report of Session 2007-08, the
Joint Committee on Human Rights has suggested that there are "discrepancies
between the evidence given to the Joint Committee in 2004 and
2006 on the use of prohibited conditioning techniques and the
facts that have emerged from the Payne court martial and the Aitken
report."
The Committee recommended that the Ministry of Defence
should provide a detailed explanation of these alleged discrepancies
as soon as possible after the conclusion of Lord Justice Gage's
public inquiry, and I confirm that we shall do so. This does not
imply an acceptance that there were any such discrepancies.
79 R (on the application of HSMP Forum Ltd.) v Secretary
of State for the Home Department [2008] EWHC 664 (Admin). Back
80
Qs 55 and 56 Back
81
R (on the application of HSMP Forum Ltd.) v Secretary of State
for the Home Department [2008] EWHC 664 (Admin) at para. 57. Back
[1]
82 http://www.lancasterrcdiocese.org.uk/mission%20review/school-report.pdf Back
[2]
83 Home Office Research Study
274 Religion in England and Wales: findings from the 2001 Home
Office Citizenship Survey Table 3.1: Which of the following
things would say something important about you, if you were describing
yourself? Religion was ranked as the ninth factor with 20%
of respondents claiming it to be a factor. Back
