Extracts from committee stage (Commons) of the Nationality and Borders Bill - Nov 2

Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab):...The Children’s Society has emphasised concerns regarding the impact on children who are victims of child criminal exploitation. In 2020, of the 47% of referrals to the NRM that were for children, 51% were for criminal exploitation. According to the National Crime Agency  referrals to the NRM for British children have grown due to an increase in child criminal exploitation, particularly by groups using the county lines model. The average custodial sentence length given to children has increased by more than seven months over the last 10 years, from 11.3 to 18.6 months in 2020...

...Of course we agree that the public should be protected from serious criminals who pose a threat to our society, but there is simply no data to support the Government’s claims in relation to clause 51. Research undertaken by the National Crime Agency suggests that, as we have discussed, there are between 6,000 and 8,000 modern slavery offenders in the UK. However, in the England and Wales last year, there were only 91 prosecutions and 13 convictions where modern slavery offences were the principal offence...

To read the whole transcript, CLICK HERE