Northern Ireland's Justice Minister has today
launched two consultation documents on measures to eradicate
modern slavery from the supply chains of public and commercial
sector organisations.
Transparency in supply chains (TISC) involves relevant businesses
publishing a modern slavery statement and setting out the steps
they have taken to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not
taking place in any part of their business or supply chains.
The proposed changes will see a strengthening of the TISC
arrangements for commercial businesses with a turnover of £36m or
more and will give effect to UK-wide arrangements which the Home
Office consulted on during summer 2019.
The main proposed legislative changes will mean that:
- The areas that modern slavery statements must cover will be
mandated by law. If organisations have taken no steps within an
area, they will have to state this clearly in their statement.
- A new government-run reporting service will be introduced to
provide eligible businesses a facility to register their
statements.
- A single reporting deadline is to be introduced to report on
the same 12 month period (April to March).
Consideration is also being given by the Home Office to
enforcement options, including financial penalties, in line with
the development of a Single Enforcement Body.
The consultation also seeks views on proposals to extend TISC
requirements to Northern Ireland’s public sector organisations
with a budget of £36m or more for the first time.
Justice Minister said: “I am
committed to tackling the scourge of modern slavery.
Strengthening measures to address modern slavery not only helps
protect vulnerable workers from severe human rights violations,
it can bring a number of business benefits too. These include
protecting and enhancing an organisation’s reputation and brand;
and protecting and growing the organisation’s customer base as
more consumers seek out businesses with higher ethical standards.
“While the main purpose of these documents is to explain and seek
views on the proposed changes from those public and commercial
sector organisations that will be captured by the legislative
changes, I would urge all public and private sector companies to
take steps to eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains.
I also recognise that this is a difficult time for a wide range
of organisations, I want to ensure that all companies that may be
impacted by the proposals understand the proposed changes and
have an opportunity to engage with officials during the
consultation process. The consultation documents provide
considerable advice, guidance and toolkits to assist with this.
“Through this consultation exercise, Northern Ireland’s private
and public sectors are encouraged to demonstrate that there is no
safe haven here from slavery of any kind, much less in our supply
chains.”
The consultations will run from 17 February 2021 to 12 May 2021.
Notes to editors:
1. Further details on the consultation for the public sector
organisations and how to respond is available at https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/consultations/modern-slavery-transparency-supply-chains
2. Further details on the consultation engagement exercise for
commercial organisations is available at https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/consultations/modern-slavery-transparency-supply-chains
3. Commercial organisations consultation and engagement:
The United Kingdom government requires commercial organisations,
through The Modern Slavery Act 2015, to report on their progress
in relation to identifying and addressing modern slavery risks in
both their operation and supply chains. These arrangements were
extended to Northern Ireland through a Legislative Consent Motion
on 19 November 2014. In July 2019 the UK Government launched a
consultation on measures to strengthen these arrangements, and
recently published its proposals on how it plans to take this
work forward. The views expressed during this Northern Ireland
consultation and engagement exercise will inform the Legislative
Consent process, and assist with effective implementation of the
changes.
4. Public sector organisations consultation:
Proposals are being made to extend these requirements to Northern
Ireland’s public sector organisations for the first time. The
United Kingdom government consulted with public bodies in England
and Wales but did not consult directly with those in Northern
Ireland’s proposals. So it is appropriate to consult locally with
the public sector to seek views on how changes can be
operationalised in Northern Ireland, and to provide advice and
guidance to aid compliance.
5. For enquiries relating to these consultations please email
OCB.enquiries@justice-ni.gov.uk
