The Government has published its response to a House of Lords Committee which recently reviewed the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and which made certain recommendations for improvement to the statutory framework.
The Government acknowledged that while the UK was a leader in this area ten years ago, it is now lagging behind when viewed in the context of international developments. Amongst other things, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will require large EU companies, or those with operations in the EU, to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence in their supply chain from July 2027. The effect of this standard will be felt in the UK, despite the UK not being required to implement the Directive.
The Government has not made a tangible commitment to implement the recommendations made by the House of Lords Committee. However, it has indicated that it is taking many of the issues raised seriously, particularly with regard to how to eradicate modern slavery from the supply chain. The actions it has committed to are:
- With regard to the current requirement for private companies of a certain size to produce a section 54 modern slavery statement each year (setting out what steps they have taken to ensure modern slavery is not taking place in their supply chain), The Home Office plans to make the Government-run register more transparent and is considering introducing a data dashboard, to be made available to the public, which will presumably give key information about the content of statements/steps taken.
- The Government is currently updating the statutory guidance on how to produce a section 54 statement.
- The Government is looking at how to 'strengthen' penalties for non-compliance with the duty to produce a section 54 statement and acknowledges this would require new legislation.
- The Government is considering whether public bodies should be required to publish section 54 statements. This is following it emerging that the care sector in particular is an area of risk with regard to modern slavery.
The Government has not set out a timescale for next steps.
