My Lords, I want to speak to the JCHR amendments in this group in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dubs. Those were very strong words from the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, and I found them extremely persuasive, including his remarks on one-nation conservatism. I see the noble Lords, Lord Fowler and Lord Deben, in their place, and I commend the speech of Sir John Major today, which I have followed a little on Twitter.
Amendment 159 was inspired by the JCHR and seeks to remove the discretion around whether a person who has a positive reasonable grounds decision and a conclusive grounds decision pending could avoid removal. Instead of saying that the competent authority “may determine” that removal should not take place, if that is appropriate in the circumstances of the case, we suggest it “must”.
Clause 59 has already changed the Modern Slavery Act so that we are talking about people who “are” victims of slavery or human trafficking, not those who “may be”. Therefore, it is surely right that such victims, who have been given an additional positive reasonable grounds decision for new or more recent slavery or trafficking allegations, must not be removed.
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Indeed, in paragraph 76 of their ECHR memorandum, the Government say
“where … the Secretary of State will be required to make a new conclusive grounds decision on the new referral … the person will be protected from removal in the meantime, ensuring compliance with Article 10(2)”
of ECAT. However, Clause 61 does not accord with that, because it retains as a discretionary power the denial of protection from removal. That discretion should be removed from the Bill, in accordance with Amendment 179.
Amendment 162 amends Clause 62, which would deny protection assistance and support to and allow the removal of a victim who is a “threat to public order”. This could impede the UK’s ability to investigate and prosecute human trafficking and slavery perpetrators. The anti-slavery commissioner has expressed grave concerns at the wide net of that provision, the potential denial of the recovery and reflection period to a considerable number of victims and the consequence that prosecution witnesses may be unable to build rapport with law enforcement and provide evidence.
In her letter to the Home Secretary of last September, which my noble friend Lord Paddick quoted earlier, the anti-slavery commissioner quoted data from Hope for Justice, which said that
“of their current live caseload, 29% of individuals have committed offences that would meet the criteria for exemption under public order grounds. A further 13% have committed wider offences that may/may not meet the criteria for a public order exemption and 3% have a conviction but the details of this are unknown.”
Up to 45% of this organisation’s case load have or appear to have convictions. Excluding all those people is really being kind to criminal trafficking gangs. She gave a case study:
“In 2018 a Romanian trafficker was convicted … under the Modern Slavery Act … having trafficked at least 15 people from Romania … He received a seven year sentence and … a Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order … Of the 15 potential victims identified, two provided statements to support the police investigation.
One of these witnesses, whose evidence was significant in securing the conviction, had three previous convictions in Romania all of which attracted sentences in excess of 12 months”.
If the Government want to exclude from protection these victims, who might have criminal offences on their record, that means we will get fewer prosecutions and convictions of the perpetrators of trafficking and slavery.
The JCHR proposes that Clause 62 should be amended so that only a serious and ongoing threat to public order takes a victim out of protection. In fact, due to failings in the criminal justice system, victims are often forced to commit offences, such as on cannabis farms. In a recent Strasbourg court case, the UK was found to have failed in its duty to protect such victims. To be in line with its protective obligations under the ECHR and ECAT, the Government should accept at least amendment of Clause 62. Hence Amendment 168 provides that a person should not be considered a threat to public order if they were compelled to commit an offence, and Amendments 165 to 167 tighten up the provision in the Bill in other ways. The bottom line, as proposed by my noble friend Lord Paddick and the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, is that Clauses 61 and 62 are pernicious and should be removed.
The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, referred to the article by the anti-slavery commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, in the Times today. She mentions the Joint Committee on Human Rights and she concludes:
“Ministers have assured that decisions to remove support from victims will be made on a case-by-case basis suggesting infrequent use. But why frame legislation that appears to remove protection from such a wide cohort of individuals if that is not indeed the desire? There might be exceptional circumstances in which it is right to withhold support when there is a genuine, current and serious threat to public order, but the present bill goes far beyond this.”
She gives us a hint:
“Parliamentarians have the opportunity to address this—I hope that they take it.”
I hope we will take it in our vote on Report. That is a very powerful warning, I think, from the anti-slavery commissioner and I hope the Minister will tell me how seriously he takes it.