Modern slavery offences up 59%

Interventions

The report also gives information about a range of initiatives led by the National Crime Agency to try to tackle modern slavery. Project AIDANT, the series of NCA-led operational intensifications, brings together resources from the NCA, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, HMRC, the GLAA and UK police forces to deliver intensified operational activity focused on specific thematic areas.

Between 2017 and 2019 the NCA coordinated UK law enforcement agencies to deliver 18 phases of
Project AIDANT operational activity across the UK – and some cases with international partners –
tackling different manifestations of the threat with varying operational focuses. During this time,
Project AIDANT resulted in over 770 arrests, and safeguarding over 1,220 potential victims. In May
2020, an evaluation of the AIDANT phases 1 -15 (February 2017 – January 2019) was produced for
the purpose of highlighting key learning points, good news stories and recommendations for future activity, all of which were fed into the planning of Project AIDANT in 2020.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, the following Project AIDANT phases took place:

• Labour Exploitation
• Child Exploitation
• Sexual Exploitation
• Ports and Borders
• Adult Service Websites

The latest series of intensifications focussed on the food packaging and processing, the shellfish
industry and the textiles and garment sector and involved the police and other law enforcement
partners engaging in intelligence development activity across these sectors in order to identify the
extent of exploitation and safeguard potential victims in these sectors, whilst raising public awareness.

Prevention

Last Autumn the Government opened a new Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre. The Centre is now fully operational and is starting to commission new research to enhance the evidence base to inform our policy and operational response and improve understanding. Research calls to date have focussed on the support for victims and survivors of modern slavery, and on the impact of COVID-19 on
modern slavery.

Awareness of modern slavery is growing, particularly in the aftermath of such tragic incidents as the death of 39 Vietnamese people in a lorry container in Tilbury last October. The report says that the government is seeking to raise more awareness to encourage members of the public to report situations where they think people may be being trafficked or used as modern slaves.

Although the report claims that the government is “acting at every level” to tackle these appalling crimes, it is clear that the number of successful prosecutions remain at a very low level. While the government claims that the pandemic has resulted intensified work, it is tempting to think that in practice resources may have been diverted elsewhere. We must wait for next year’s report to find out.