Vernon Coaker (Gedling) (Lab):...The statistics that
the National Crime Agency released just a week or so ago
are stark. They represent huge increases. I know we can say that
that is because of greater awareness and such things, but when we
have figures showing a 36% increase in the number of referrals in a
year, there is no doubt that they signify a growing problem in our
country... Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston)
(Lab/Co-op):...We have already heard about the inadequacy...Request free trial
(Gedling) (Lab):...The
statistics that the National Crime Agency released just a week
or so ago are stark. They represent huge increases. I know we can
say that that is because of greater awareness and such things, but
when we have figures showing a 36% increase in the number of
referrals in a year, there is no doubt that they signify a growing
problem in our country...
(Birmingham, Edgbaston)
(Lab/Co-op):...We have already heard about the inadequacy
of domestic legislation on victim support, and we all know that
referrals of suspected victims of modern slavery in the UK have
risen dramatically in the last five years. Between 2017 and 2018,
according to the National Crime Agency, the number of
potential victims of modern slavery referred by the West Midlands
police to the national referral mechanism rose from 85 to 117—an
increase of 32%—of which 28 were exploited as minors. Of the 45
referred by Birmingham City Council in 2018, 38 were exploited as
minors, which is the most in any local authority. We cannot afford
to be complacent about this problem...
(Swansea East)
(Lab):...Figures, which Members will be aware of, released
by the National Crime Agency a couple of
weeks ago showed that the number of reported potential trafficking
and modern slavery victims had risen by 36% in a year. A hugely
worrying trend in that increase was the alarming number of young
people. Referrals for minors who were potential victims rose by 48%
on the previous year’s records; that is partly down to children
being forced to sell drugs as part of the county lines
phenomenon...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the
Home Department (Victoria Atkins):...We are identifying
more victims than ever before. Last week, the National Crime Agency released the
2018 NRM statistics, which were chilling: 6,993 potential victims
were referred to the NRM in 2018, representing a 36% increase since
2017. We are obviously pleased that there is greater awareness of
the NRM and how we should treat victims of modern slavery, but it
leaves us with the great challenge of how hidden this crime is and
the need to help the many thousands of victims who are coming
forward. Sadly, we also know about the impact that the phenomenon
of county lines is having in this area, which is a subject that
many Members have raised. I will address that issue when I come to
talk about children...
...The difficulty I have is that, frankly, there are parts
that I cannot publish for operational reasons. There is also
emerging evidence of people being trafficked into this country to
commit benefit fraud; I recently had a discussion about that with
the former Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and
Falmouth (Sarah Newton). We are conscious, as well, that this is an
emerging typology, which we are looking into with the help of
the National Crime Agency...
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