PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Slavery (18 April 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of applying sanctions to businesses that fail to comply with s54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Asked by:
Sarah Champion (Labour)

As a result of the world-leading provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we have seen thousands of transparency statements published and businesses are now more focused on this issue than ever before.

The legislation was designed to harness pressure from civil society and we are pleased that NGOs are using company statements to hold businesses to account, including contacting businesses that have not yet published statements and producing benchmarking reports on different sectors.

In October 2017 we wrote to over 10,000 businesses reminding them of their obligations to report. The Home Secretary also established a new ‘Business Against Slavery Forum’, which aims to accelerate progress in tackling modern slavery, by sharing best practice and offering support to smaller businesses.

We are considering what more can be done to drive greater levels of compliance and higher quality reporting. We do not think that a burdensome regime of government regulation and punitive sanctions is the most effective way to encourage business transparency. Court injunctions remain an option for the future if companies fail to comply.

Answered by:
Victoria Atkins (Conservative)
27 April 2018