Item 3 is the Modern Slavery Bill, which is United Kingdom Parliament legislation. The cabinet secretary has stayed with us for this item and I welcome to the meeting the following Scottish Government officials: Neil Rennick, the acting director of the justice division; Ann Oxley, from the criminal law and licensing division; Keith Main, from the safer communities division; and Kevin Gibson, from the directorate of legal services.
I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement. I emphasise the word “brief”, cabinet secretary. This is a very important issue, but we are pressed for time today.
The trafficking of human beings and the use of them as commodities for profit is a heinous crime, and one that the Scottish Government is committed to combating.
This is a hidden crime that does not respect border controls or national boundaries, and it is crucial that we work with the UK and Northern Irish Governments to ensure that our laws take it into account.
The committee will be aware that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill has recently been introduced to the Scottish Parliament. That bill will bring about the creation of a Scottish anti-human trafficking strategy, enhancing support and protection for victims, and includes measures to tackle human trafficking-related crime through the Scottish criminal justice system.
A UK-wide commissioner who can operate across the board, share good practice and ensure a consistency of approach in tackling this crime, supporting its victims and holding each jurisdiction to account on the same basis, will complement that legislation.
Scottish ministers will agree the work plan of the commissioner and request Scotland-specific reports that they will lay before Parliament, along with any such report that may come from the commission. Powers are included for the redaction of any report that might jeopardise the safety of any person in Scotland or which might prejudice the investigation or prosecution of an offence under the law of Scotland.
What will change for the investigation of ships and vessels? What can Police Scotland do today and what will change?
At the moment, Police Scotland has general powers to investigate and detain and arrest in Scotland, which extend to adjacent waters up to 12 miles from the coast. Scottish police officers do not have the powers to go beyond that 12-mile jurisdiction and they cannot go into UK waters that are outwith Police Scotland’s jurisdiction. The new provisions will give Police Scotland the power to continue to pursue this type of thing. For example, Police Scotland could go into Northern Irish waters in the Irish Sea if it was pursuing a vessel.
Last year, or perhaps in 2012, police pursued a vessel off the coast of Dumfries and Galloway and a vessel off the coast of Aberdeen. The challenge in the Aberdeen case was that the vessel went outwith the 12-mile boundary, so the police were not able to apprehend and detain the people on it. They had to wait for the vessel to run low on fuel and come back into the police’s jurisdiction.
The additional powers will allow the police to investigate and search vessels and detain individuals beyond the 12-mile limit. The police will also be able to pursue vessels into UK waters that are outwith Police Scotland’s jurisdiction and police in England and Wales will be able to pursue vessels into Scottish waters.
I am seeking reassurance that Scottish vessels will not be boarded more than foreign vessels will be. There are vessels from different countries in our waters and we want to ensure that the powers are appropriate.
Sure. Police Scotland is able to stop, investigate and search vessels in Scottish jurisdiction as appropriate. I do not imagine that there would be more of a focus on Scottish vessels than on others. The provisions will ensure that Police Scotland has the necessary powers to be able to pursue vessels, given that they cross boundaries regularly to evade investigation. Providing these additional powers will give Police Scotland the same legal authority and powers to pursue these vessels as those that their counterparts in England and Wales have.
What scope is there to have a Scottish commissioner?
That was considered. You will be aware that, in the last year, there were an estimated 55 cases of trafficking and exploitation in Scotland. We suspect that that is the tip of the iceberg, but it is difficult to quantify exactly how many cases there are. The view was that it might not be advantageous to have a commissioner who would deal with what may be a relatively small number of cases, whereas it might be useful to have a commissioner who would deal with a much larger number of cases, gain greater experience and learn about good practice in other parts of the UK.
Notwithstanding that, we considered specifically the commissioner’s engagement with Scottish ministers and their role in Scotland—how the commissioner will report to us and how we will propose specific work in Scotland for them, including any reports that we think need to be laid before the Scottish Parliament. Although the commissioner will operate on a UK-wide basis, they will have a specific Scottish aspect, which Scottish ministers will have a direct role in shaping. We wanted to have someone who could draw on wider experience to feed into our processes and improve the work that we are doing to tackle human trafficking and exploitation.
11:00
There has been some criticism that the proposed remit of the anti-slavery commissioner might be too limited. Are issues such as protection and assistance for survivors picked up in the Scottish Government’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill?
Our approach is slightly more ambitious. The Scottish bill requires Scottish ministers to ensure that victims and survivors get the support and assistance that they require. That goes beyond what is in the UK bill.
As I said on Friday, the fact that these heinous crimes are hidden means that victims can be reluctant to engage with services. There have been cases in the past in which individuals have been identified and have gone missing. There will be a requirement in the bill to create a national strategy in Scotland. A key part of that will be to ensure that victims are given the right support and assistance.
There will not be any sort of conflict between the UK-wide commission and what we want to do here. We can make that seamless.
We should learn from each other. The UK Government is taking a particular approach. Our view is that the victims of these crimes should get the right type of support and assistance. Our bill puts victims at the very heart of the process. This is not a national strategy that we can choose whether to implement; it is a requirement in the bill to embed such provision in practice in Scotland.
I do not want to pre-empt the decision of the Parliamentary Bureau, but I think that it is likely that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill will come to this committee. However, that is a matter for the bureau.
I refer to the Home Office’s “Review of the National Referral Mechanism for victims of human trafficking”, which was published fairly recently. Clause 41(1) of the Modern Slavery Bill says:
“The Commissioner must encourage good practice in ... the identification of victims of those offences.”
The UK Government has accepted all of the recommendations in the review. I take it from your letter on the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill that the full implications for Scotland are not yet known. I seek some reassurance, in relation to this legislative consent memorandum, that there will not be an issue down the path, as it were.
The LCM is based on the UK Government’s reporting timetable for the Modern Slavery Bill. We support the provisions in that bill that apply to Scotland. I will bring in officials to comment further on the review to which you refer.
Legislation is one aspect of this. There is also the wider work that we need to do to tackle human trafficking. That is why we have placed a requirement on ministers to introduce a national strategy and to evaluate, maintain and review it. Our bill will mean that we are in an even stronger position than the position provided for by the Modern Slavery Bill.
I can confirm that we are due to speak to Home Office officials this afternoon about the NRM review, its implications and the timescale for that. The Home Secretary is keen to have a number of pilots to test how the approach that the NRM review proposes might operate in practice. Early indications are that the timescale for those pilots will extend beyond the timescale for the Modern Slavery Bill. We are not expecting anything arising from the NRM review to impact on that bill or, therefore, on the LCM. Clearly, we will work closely with the Home Office about the implications of the NRM review because, as you say, identifying victims is crucial to this whole area.
The LCM notes that Scottish police officers will in some circumstances require the consent of the secretary of state to proceed. What kind of circumstance might that be and do you think that it is appropriate?
That relates to some issues to do with international law that are reserved to Westminster, and some international protocols. The legal explanation of that can best be provided by officials, but the fact that some aspects are reserved means that the secretary of state’s permission would be required. My understanding is that these matters are likely to be taken forward through delegated powers to the UK Border Agency. It is largely about some areas that remain reserved to Westminster.
This really relates to the boarding of foreign vessels, all of which is regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which requires any circumstance where a foreign vessel is to be boarded to be routed through a central authority in the country whose officers propose to board that vessel. The central authority for the UK is the secretary of state, because, as the cabinet secretary has said, this is a reserved matter.
Is this in UK territorial waters?
No, it would be outside.
It is when you get out of them.
Yes, exactly.
Okay. I understand now.
That provision applies equally to police officers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland; it is not a peculiarly Scottish aspect.
I just wanted to clarify that it applies when you get outwith UK territorial waters, given international conventions about boarding ships.
Yes.
That is fine. Thank you very much. That concludes this evidence session. I will suspend the meeting for five minutes before we move to the next item of business. We will have to draft our report on the LCM at our next meeting on 6 January.
11:07 Meeting suspended.Previous
Commission on Women Offenders