Decision details

West Suffolk Council had produced and adopted a Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement in 2017.  The Statement was written to cover the period up until 31 March 2020 and, as such, requires renewing.  This renewal process has been delayed due to COVID-19 work. 

The Portfolio Holder for Families and Communities and the Portfolio Holder for Governance will be asked to approve the adoption of an updated Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement, with accompanying internal communication activity to remind staff of their responsibilities.  Due to the forthcoming Government requirement for all councils to produce annual statements on their actions to tackle modern slavery, there is also a commitment to a wider review of the Council’s responsibilities in this area, once new legislation is passed by Parliament.

Resolved:

That:

1.           The adoption of an updated Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement (as set out in Appendix B to Report number: CAB/WS/21/012), with accompanying internal communication activity to remind staff of their responsibilities, be approved.

2.           The Portfolio Holder for Families and Communities and the Portfolio Holder for Governance be committed to undertaking a wider review of the Council’s responsibilities in this area once new legislation is passed by Parliament.

West Suffolk Council had adopted a Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement in 2017.  The Statement had been written to cover the period up until 31 March 2020 and as such, required renewing.  The renewal process had been delayed due to COVID-19 work.

Meanwhile, the Government had announced on 22 September 2020, some proposed amendments to the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which would bring local authorities within the scope of the public bodies (currently Government departments and some others) who already had to publish annual Modern Slavery statements and which would define the content of statements.  These amendments followed a Government consultation in 2019.  The amendments had not yet been passed by Parliament and the Government guidance on what these local authority documents would have to contain, had not yet been published.

Therefore, it was proposed for the existing West Suffolk Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement to be refreshed, to bring it up-to-date.  The Portfolio Holder for Families and Communities and the Portfolio Holder for Governance had approved the adoption of an updated Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement (as set out in Appendix B to Report number CAB/WS/21/012, with accompanying internal communication activity to remind staff of their responsibilities.

In addition, due to the forthcoming Government requirement for all councils to produce annual statements on their actions to tackle modern slavery, the Portfolio Holders have also committed to the undertaking of a wider review of the Council’s responsibilities in this area, once the new legislation had been passed by Parliament.

One alternative option would be to continue the use of the Council’s current Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement. However, this wasnot recommended, as the previous approval only covered the period to March 2020, and there were updates to how Modern Slavery responsibilities were handled within the Council. 

It would also be possible to carry out a more fundamental review of the Council’s overall approach to Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and to produce a more radically revised statement. However, this was not recommended in advance of the changes to legislation that were forthcoming.