Flagship Bill to tackle modern slavery

Earlier this week the Home Secretary, Theresa May, published a draft Bill designed to tackle modern slavery in England and Wales, the first Bill of its kind in Europe.

The draft legislation forms part of a Government White Paper setting out action needed to eradicate slavery from the UK. It will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny with the aim of publishing a Bill in the spring that could be passed and on the statute books by the end of the parliament.

The draft Bill contains measures designed to:

• Consolidate and simplify existing slavery and trafficking offences to provide clarity and focus when investigating and prosecuting traffickers.
• Increase the maximum sentence available from 14 years to life imprisonment.
• Introduce Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders (STPOs) and Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders (STROs) to restrict the activity of those who pose a risk and those convicted of slavery and trafficking offences so they cannot cause further harm.
• Create a new Anti-Slavery Commissioner role to galvanise law enforcement efforts to tackle modern slavery; and
• Establish a legal duty to report potential victims of trafficking to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to build a clearer picture of the nature of this hidden crime.

Action is already being taken on a number of fronts, including training and guidance for front line staff such as the police, border officers, asylum case workers and health workers, to improve the way potential victims are identified and supported.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.

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