Businesses in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent can play a part in reducing modern slavery by making sure their supply chains are “clean”, says Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire Sue Arnold.
Mrs Arnold is reminding businesses of their social and corporate responsibility to help eradicate the scourge of modern slavery and human trafficking.
As part of the Modern Slavery Act (2015) businesses supplying goods or services in the UK with a turnover of £36 million or more a year, have a legal obligation to publish an annual statement showing the steps taken to ensure human trafficking is not taking place within any part of their business or supply chains.
Mrs Arnold said: ‘Sadly not all businesses realise that if their turnover is £36 million or more a year, they need to have this statement published and available to show the actions they have taken to make sure their business is free from human trafficking and modern slavery.
‘This is an important opportunity to remind businesses of their responsibility to help stamp out modern slavery and raise awareness that this abhorrent crime is something that still affects people in 2017 – even in Staffordshire.’
Within their statement, as well as the steps taken to ensure “clean” supply chains, businesses are encouraged to include information on their policies relating to modern slavery and human trafficking and areas of their supply chains where there is a risk of this taking place.
In 2016 over 3,800 potential victims of trafficking were identified in the UK. This is an increase of 17% on 2015, but these are just the victims we know about. Slavery’s hidden nature means actual numbers are likely to be much higher.
Increasingly more and more organisations are unwilling to do business with companies unless they know their supply chains are “clean” so Mrs Arnold is encouraging them to consider how to spot whether modern slavery is occurring in their supply chain and how to address it.
Modern slavery can take many forms including the trafficking of people, forced labour, servitude and slavery. Victims can be men, women and children but it is most common amongst the vulnerable, and within minority or socially excluded groups. Approximately two-thirds of victims are women, and a third are men with every fourth victim of modern slavery being a child.
Mrs Arnold has already made highlighting the issue of modern slavery a real priority in her role as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and held a successful conference in 2015 to highlight the threat. The conference was attended by over 500 delegates and included speakers from Gangmasters Licensing Authority, the UK’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner and the UK Human Trafficking Centre.
Slavery is closer than you think. It happens all over the world including the UK. Find out more at www.modernslavery.co.uk or call the helpline on 0800 0121 700. You can also find out more at www.staffordshire.police.uk/MDS
