My Lords, I wish to speak in support of Amendment 78, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord McColl, to which I have added my name.
I have been watching the passage of the Bill with great interest. I recognise that many noble Lords who have spoken on Report have much greater knowledge and a longer history of raising these issues than I have. In particular, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord McColl, for his tireless efforts in bringing the needs of vulnerable people to the attention of your Lordships. It is listening to his contribution that has encouraged me to step forward.
I do not doubt that the Government take victim protection very seriously, but I have concerns that the Bill itself does not yet provide the necessary framework for victims to receive the support that they most desperately need at the time when they are at their most vulnerable—when they are first rescued or identified. Nor does it give a clear enough signal to victims and those who first encounter them that access to immediate assistance is a matter of utmost priority.
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Amendment 78 clearly establishes that victims of trafficking must be provided with,
“Support and assistance for physical, psychological and social recovery”,
from the moment that it becomes apparent they may be a victim and a referral to the NRM is made. The amendment transposes into our law the obligations that already exist in the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the EU directive, in particular the need for a recovery and reflection period to support a victim’s recovery.
Developing the provision on a policy basis was appropriate in the early years of the convention. Now, however, we are entering a new chapter in how human trafficking is to be addressed, with legislation that brings together all aspects of the strategy to combat it. In the context of such a wide-ranging Bill, the absence of a clear duty to provide victims with initial support and assistance in the recovery and reflection period is anomalous. This absence is highlighted when it is compared to the comprehensive legislation in Northern Ireland and the Bill proposed by the Scottish Government to which the noble Lord, Lord McColl, referred. Devolution means that the Assemblies and Parliaments
are able to develop legislation that best serves their own areas, but when our international obligations apply to the UK as a whole, and where victims may easily have been moved around and exploited in various parts of the UK, surely a unified approach would be better. Why should there be no legal duty to provide initial support to a victim who is discovered in Cardiff or London, and yet had they been found in Belfast or Edinburgh such a duty would apply? Amendment 78 will ensure that there will be a similar duty to provide support in England and Wales as exists in Northern Ireland and is proposed for Scotland.
I am aware of the NRM review and the proposals to develop pilot programmes to test its recommended changes to the decision-making process. However, I do not see why such a process should necessarily delay the establishment in the Modern Slavery Bill of the underlying principles of the system of victim support, which are in any case set out in existing international treaties and by which the UK is bound. I welcome the intention to provide a form of statutory framework for support put forward in Amendment 82, in the name of the Minister. However, it does not guarantee that the statutory basis for support and assistance will be developed at all. Neither does it contain any details of the types of assistance that should be addressed in those regulations—not even to specify, as the European Convention and Amendment 78 do, that the support should be for the victim’s physical, psychological and social recovery.
I hope that the Minister will look kindly on Amendment 78 and other amendments in this group and, if he cannot do so, reflect on whether a reference to the types of assistance set out in the convention and directive could be added to the reference to guidance in Clause 49 and the enabling clause in Amendment 82. We must ensure that victims are not on their own, and that they can have confidence that the support they need will be there when they need it most.