Human Trafficking
Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department
2:30 pm

Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire, Conservative)

What recent steps she has taken to eradicate human trafficking.

Lynne Featherstone (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Equalities Office; Hornsey and Wood Green, Liberal Democrat)

In 2011, the Government published their human trafficking strategy, opted into the EU directive and improved the support arrangements for adult trafficking victims. Since then we have been working across Government and with stakeholders further to strengthen and improve our approach to tackling human trafficking.

Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire, Conservative)

Many people believe that trafficking is about foreigners being trafficked into the UK, but do the Government accept the need for great vigilance on the question of British citizens being trafficked within the United Kingdom and outside it, which has recently been shown to be happening?

Lynne Featherstone (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Equalities Office; Hornsey and Wood Green, Liberal Democrat)

Of course, the terrible incident in Bedfordshire highlighted the issue of internal trafficking and the Government have taken action. We recently passed clauses in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to make internal labour trafficking a criminal offence, which will come into force in April 2013. We also made it an offence for a UK national to traffic a person for sexual or other exploitation, regardless of where in the world the trafficking occurs or is intended to occur.