Modern Slavery Statement

Meeting: Public Meeting

Date: 10.07.2024

Report Title: Modern Slavery Statement

Agenda Item: PUB24/07/2.2

Author: Stephen Dubery, Head of Procurement and Logistics

Lead Director: Marika Stephenson, Director of People Services

Purpose: Decision Approval

Link to CQC domain:

Caring
Well Led
Safe

Link to Strategic Objective:

Be an environmentally and financially sustainable organisation

Link to Strategic Risk:

SR1a: If we do not ensure our people are safe and their wellbeing prioritised, there is a risk that we will be unable to attract, retain and keep all our people safe and well.
SR3: If we do not ensure we have the ability to plan, influence and deliver across our systems to secure change, we will not be able to meet the needs of our public and communities.
SR6: If we do not deliver sustainable regulatory compliance and develop positive relationships, we will have limited ability to deliver our strategy.

Equality Impact Assessment: No negative impact identified

Previously considered by: Executive Leadership Team

Recommendation: The Trust Board is asked to approve the statement for publication.

Purpose: UK Modern Slavery Policy is now grounded within two areas:

The Modern Slavery Act 2015

The Act combats modern slavery in the UK by consolidating and clarifying modern slavery offences to be used to penalise offenders and provide greater support and protection for victims.

PPN 02/23 Tackling Modern Slavery in Supply Chains

The Public Procurement Notice requires all in-scope organisations to manage risks of modern slavery in their supply chains. The associated guidance provides a risk management framework on how to manage risks of modern slavery in commercial activities for both new procurements and existing contracts.

To demonstrate compliance with the Modern Slavery Act, the Trust is required to complete the following actions:

Publish a Modern Slavery Statement each year.
Publish the Statement on the Trust UK website.
The Board of Directors must approve the statement.
The Statement must be signed by a Director of the organisation including their name, job title and date.

PPN 02/23 ensures considerations of modern slavery are imbedded into the procurement process and must be considered for all new procurements at each stage of the procurement process: Pre-selection, Selection, Award, Contract Management and through Supply Chain Mapping.

The Procurement Act 2023 will update and amend the procurement regulations to include modern slavery offences such as child labour and human trafficking as grounds for mandatory exclusion from public procurements in October 2024 when the Act is implemented.

Executive Summary:

The updated Modern Slavery Statement outlines both the actions we have taken and the actions we intend to take to ensure compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

The Statement has been written in line with Home Office Guidelines to ensure the Trust is compliant with our requirements under the Act.

Trust Board is asked to approve the latest version of the Statement and ensure its publication on the Trust website.

Introduction/Background:

The Government has made clear its determination to tackle modern slavery crimes, referring to them as “the great human rights issue of our time.” The International Labour Organisation estimates that there are fifty million people living in modern slavery across the world.*

The latest UK Home Office figures indicate that in the first three months of 2022, nearly 4,000 potential victims of modern slavery were identified - and more than a third of those said they had been exploited when they were children.

Possible instances of Modern Slavery in the UK are reportable to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). In 2023 the NRM found the following:

17,004 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office in 2023, like the preceding year (16,921) but nonetheless the highest annual number since the NRM began in 2009.
around four-fifths of referrals (81%; 13,704) were sent to the Single Competent Authority (SCA) and the rest (19%; 3,300) to the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA) for consideration.
the number of referrals for females (24%; 4,088) were at their highest on record, whereas the number of referrals for males (76%; 12,903) saw a fall from the previous year.
the number of referrals for child potential victims (44%; 7,432) were at their highest on record, whereas the number for adult potential victims (51%; 8,622) saw a decrease from the previous year.
the most common nationality referred this year was UK (25%; 4,299), whose numbers were at their highest for any year since the NRM began; the second most referred nationality was Albanian (24%; 4,052) and third was Vietnamese (6%; 991)
15,247 reasonable grounds and 9,825 conclusive grounds decisions were made in 2023; of these, 55% of reasonable grounds and 66% of conclusive grounds decisions were positive.
the number of conclusive grounds decisions was the highest annual number made since the NRM began.

Modern Slavery is thus known to be prevalent across the UK and can occur in any business sector, although the high-risk areas are known to be construction, the garment industry and healthcare.

To tackle these crimes, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was introduced. The Act consolidates and clarifies modern slavery offences, toughens penalties and prosecution, and introduces greater support and protection for victims.

Whilst there are laws in place which punish instances of modern slavery, the Government has recently taken the opportunity to use its extensive buying power to help mitigate the risks of it occurring in its supply chain by adopting new processes and procedures, in both procurement and supplier management.

Consequently, in-Scope Organisations must now use the guidance ‘Tackling Modern Slavery in Government Supply Chains’ to identify and manage risks in both new procurement activity and existing contracts as well as publish a Modern Slavery Statement.

*Source Global estimates of modern slavery: forced labour and forced marriage, 2022, International Labour Organisation.

Key Issues/Risks:

Modern Slavery risks are managed in accordance with other Trust risks and are logged within the Trust risk register. (Risk PRO0012)

Two actions are currently outstanding:

Action 2691. Expand requirement for MSAT assessments to all new and existing contracted suppliers.
Action 2692. Increase the contract management support within the Procurement team to ensure further support to enable this work to be completed and monitored.

Whilst the Trust is compliant with the Act, it is yet to fully meet the requirements of PPN 02/23 in relation to contract management and supply chain mapping. As a result, the Trust may not have identified all contracts that are high risk although the overall risk is considered low.

A new Contracts Manager and Social Value lead was recruited in late 2023 but left within two months due to ill health. Due to budget restrictions, there is now no current funding in 2024-25 available for this post within the procurement budget. There is a facility within Atamis to ask suppliers to submit MSAT assessments as part of the SQ and the systems are currently being established to enforce this following the implementation of the Procurement Act in October.

To date, no supplier has been excluded for failing to meet the requirements of the Act and no instances of modern slavery within supply chains has been identified within our supplier base, although work is ongoing to raise awareness of the issue with suppliers and the vacant post once budget is available will allow greater assurance through improved contract management and greater transparency of risk through supply chain mapping evidenced by supplier completion of the MSAT (Modern Slavery Assessment Tool). Suppliers awarded contracts over the FTS Limit (£139,688) following the implementation of the Procurement Act will need to complete MSAT assessments as part of the application process.

Options:

There are no other options applicable as publication of a Statement is a statutory requirement to comply with Modern Slavery Legislation.

Summary:

The Trust Board is asked to approve the Modern Slavery Statement, note the work completed to date, and the actions still outstanding in providing full assurance that there is no Modern Slavery hidden within our Supply chains.