The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-14421, in the name of Michael Matheson, on the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill. I call Michael Matheson to speak to and move the motion.
15:57
I am pleased to open the stage 3 debate on the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill. I thank the members and clerks of the Justice Committee, the Finance Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for their consideration of the bill. I also thank external stakeholders who have engaged in the bill process and have helpfully taken the time to share their knowledge and expertise. In addition, I thank the assistant commissioner for Scotland from the Information Commissioner’s Office for his assistance and kind offer to work with my officials, if Parliament agrees to pass the bill, to develop regulations, guidance and a privacy impact assessment. That will help to ensure that information sharing under the terms of the bill will be carried out appropriately and firmly within the parameters of data protection law.
The Justice Committee invited a wide range of stakeholders to give evidence at stage 1. That evidence, as well as the committee’s stage 1 report, which supported the general principles of the bill, proved to be extremely helpful in assisting the Government to reflect carefully on how the bill could be refined and enhanced. Stage 2 resulted in a number of improvements to the bill and provided us with some food for thought ahead of stage 3.
The bill will clarify and strengthen criminal law by introducing a new and comprehensive single human trafficking offence. The new offence increases to life imprisonment the maximum penalty for offenders.
The bill gives Scotland’s law enforcement agencies further tools in their locker to bring to justice those who are responsible for human trafficking and exploitation. It will enable them to prevent the commission of those grave offences, through enhanced forfeiture and detention powers, and through new trafficking and exploitation prevention orders and risk orders.
The legislation will ensure that adult victims of trafficking will now have a statutory entitlement to support and assistance that meets their individual needs, which may include, among other things, accommodation, medical advice and treatment, and legal advice.
Scottish ministers will be under an obligation to work with other bodies to publish and to keep under review a Scottish trafficking and exploitation strategy that focuses on matters including awareness raising, prevention and detection of trafficking and exploitation, and the support that is available to victims of those offences.
Research from the National Crime Agency human trafficking centre estimates that there are up to 13,000 potential victims of slavery in the United Kingdom. The bill deals with labour exploitation of the most serious kind and is supplemented by the UK-wide “Transparency in supply chains etc” provision in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, on which we worked closely with the UK Government.
Beyond that, the provision on “Exploitation for purposes of human trafficking offence” covers a wide range of exploitative conduct. We are aware that some stakeholders expressed concern at stage 1 that children are not specified on the face of the bill: the majority of provisions within the bill apply equally to adult and child victims of trafficking. However, it should be noted that the provisions relating to support for victims are explicitly aimed at providing a statutory basis for support and assistance for adult victims of trafficking. That is because the necessary support for children who may be victims of trafficking is already enshrined in legislation that provides for all vulnerable children.
We welcomed and supported the amendment from Alison McInnes at stage 2 that added an aggravation for the offence of human trafficking when a child is involved. We also supported Christina McKelvie’s amendments at stage 2 that placed a duty on Scottish ministers to make such arrangements as they consider reasonable to enable an independent child trafficking guardian to be appointed to assist, support and represent a child where it is reasonably believed that the child may have been the victim of human trafficking. We supported those amendments because we know that there is little, if anything, more despicable than the deliberate exploitation of children, and it is often the most vulnerable who suffer most. In contrast, we want to create a society in which all children and young people have the right to be cared for and protected from harm, and can grow up in a safe environment.
Child victims of trafficking are supported within the well-established systems that we have in place in Scotland to support our most vulnerable children. We are absolutely clear that the primary responsibility for child victims of trafficking should remain firmly within the child protection framework. That framework embodies the key principles of getting it right for every child, of which early intervention and wellbeing are key factors. We believe that this is the most effective way to support the recovery of children and young people who have been traumatised.
The bill introduces two duties for the provision of a guardian for eligible children. There is a duty on ministers to ensure that there is a guardian service available, and the second duty is on relevant authorities to refer the child to the guardian. On referral, the child is appointed a guardian who will represent a point of contact and expertise for them. As those children are unaccompanied—that is, there is no one with parental rights and responsibilities for them in the UK—the role of that guardian will be to provide them with a level of acceptance and guidance that will help them in a very difficult set of circumstances. The role of the guardian will be to advise on all sorts of matters; for instance, to make the young person aware of their rights and to explain to them aspects of the asylum, trafficking and welfare systems. They will also introduce them to social opportunities to help them to begin to reintegrate into community life.
Through our having created those two duties and by not putting the guardianship service itself on a statutory footing, the guardian will be able to act in the best interests of the child first, by putting them and not the process—to which a statutory body would be bound—at the centre of the service.
We amended the bill at stage 2 to ensure that victims of trafficking whose age is uncertain but who appear to be children are presumed to be children for the purpose of receiving immediate age-appropriate support and services, until their age is formally established.
Given that many children across the world are being displaced as a result of conflict, poverty and persecution and might fall victim to trafficking or exploitation, it seems timely that we are taking these steps to provide further support to young victims of trafficking. However, we all know that legislation alone is not the answer to the problem. The Government’s programme for Scotland for 2015-16 sets out our commitment to work with key agencies to develop a strategy against human trafficking and exploitation, and I assure Parliament that dialogue with stakeholders will continue as we develop our strategic approach and the strategy itself. Human trafficking and exploitation are brutal forms of organised crime in which adults and children are treated as commodities and ruthlessly exploited for criminal gain, and there is no place for it in modern Scotland.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill be passed.
16:06
Over the past four years, this Parliament and this Government have travelled far, from human trafficking being a crime that not many people in this building talked about to the point at which there is vastly increased political and public awareness in Scotland of what is a heinous crime. The bill, which will become law this afternoon, has been instrumental in that process. Many people have played a key role, and I put on record my personal thanks to some of them: Graham O’Neill, Ross McKenzie, Bronagh Andrew, the cross-party group on human trafficking, the civil servants and the cabinet secretary, who has taken the bill through its last stages.
I say “its last stages”—I should point out that the bill has been nearly four years in the making. It dates back to Baroness Helena Kennedy’s inquiry into human trafficking in Scotland, the report of which was published in November 2011. That report contained 10 key recommendations on tackling the crime of human trafficking in Scotland, many of which are to be found in the bill that we will pass this afternoon.
We had an extensive and comprehensive consultation, and such was the public interest in the campaign that we found ourselves with more than 50,000 responses—the third highest response rate in the Parliament’s history. The number of public responses was eclipsed only by those for the legislation on equal marriage and the ban on smoking in public places. For their mobilisation of the public interest, I must put on record my thanks to ECPAT UK, CARE for Scotland, the walk free movement and, in particular, the Scottish churches. Campaign organisations should look to them as examples of excellence in public campaigning.
I also acknowledge the sustained reporting of the trafficking issue by the Scottish media, which throughout this campaign have taken their responsibility for shining a light into our nation’s dark corners very seriously. The story is often not easy to report; the victims are so vulnerable that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for them to tell their story in a public forum. It is for that very reason that I have never met a victim of human trafficking. However, it is my duty, and the duty of everyone in the Parliament, to speak up for the voiceless and to use the powers of this place to improve our society and constantly make our communities more resilient against gendered, exploitative and violent crime and constantly strengthen the resolve to respect human rights across the country.
I think that the bill turned our current political narrative about powers on its head, because it starts from the premise that we will combat the crime of trafficking only by making our communities robust against it at the grass roots.
Trafficking is an international crime that is motivated by vast profits. Criminal gangs will always find ways to get people into host countries, and they will be steps ahead of law enforcement as they do so. Therefore, it was not good enough to lay blame squarely at the door of the UK Border Agency and dismiss trafficking as an immigration problem. That is why the bill takes an approach that involves strengthening communities against the crime of trafficking and thereby making Scotland a place where the crime is not welcome, victims are more easily identified, intelligence to catch traffickers improves and our police, legal and court system knows how to deal with the people responsible.
Are we at that stage yet? I do not believe that we are. Today is not the end of a process; it is simply the first day in our fight against trafficking in Scotland. We know that legislation is not enough. We have another human rights law in this country that makes female genital mutilation a crime, yet there has not been one police report or prosecution relating to FGM in Scotland, even though we know that it is happening in our communities. That is why it was critically important that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill should pave the way for the future. Legislation is never enough.
The bill places a duty on the Scottish Government to publish a three yearly anti-slavery strategy. I hope that that strategy will include training for our doctors, nurses and health professionals on how to recognise potential victims of trafficking when they present themselves. We know that trafficking victims rarely self-identify due to fear—fear for their own safety and fear of reprisals on their families back home. I also want social workers to be trained, so that they, too, can identify these vulnerable people when they work with them and know what resources are in their hands to help them.
I would like to see our lawyers of the future taught about the crime of human trafficking in criminal law courses in universities, so that when they mark cases they recognise the crime when they are presented with the evidence. I want our police officers—not just those who police our borders, but police in every community across our country—to have an understanding of the crime so that when they see it they investigate it and refer it up through our legal system. Only when our communities are robust in that way will the traffickers take note and consider Scotland too risky a place for their crime and human rights abuses.
I understand that the Scottish Government already has civil servants working on the strategy, but I hope that some of my suggestions can be taken on board. I ask the cabinet secretary to address how the strategy will be delivered, who will co-ordinate it and whether that work will be led by a group that is accountable to the Scottish Government. More detail on that would be welcome, whether today or in the near future.
This morning, in Glasgow, I met women in the trafficking awareness-raising alliance, who work every day supporting victims of human trafficking. Their working day today and tomorrow will be the same as it was yesterday—they will be supporting women whose harrowing experiences we can only imagine. However, today we enshrine the support that they give into a right that can be expected in our country. For our country to marshal the resources to look after vulnerable people is the civilised thing to do. Today we give legal guardians to children who have been trafficked. Today we strengthen our law and increase sentences for criminal traffickers. Today, most importantly, we reiterate our resolve to protect and guard human rights in Scotland. It is a proud day for the Scottish Parliament and for our mission as public servants to shine a light in the dark corners of the world and bring hope and respect to those who need it.
16:13
I very much welcome this stage 3 debate. I thank the Justice Committee convener, clerks and members for their hard work. In particular, I pay tribute to the witnesses for their evidence at stage 1. There is no doubt that the bill is far better than it was, and that it has benefited from their expertise and experience on the front line.
A case in point is the new definition of trafficking in section 1, which is phrased now in such a way that there can be no ambiguity that the offence of trafficking can happen within a country as well as between countries. The Lord Advocate was reluctant to accept that the previous definition was open to interpretation. I am, therefore, pleased that the cabinet secretary has listened to the wise comments of those who gave evidence on that point.
I also thank Jenny Marra and acknowledge the crucial part that she has played in ensuring that we now have legislation in Scotland that is aimed at bringing human trafficking to an end. Without her persistence, we would not be voting to pass the bill this evening.
The bill has become all the more pertinent given the now sadly all-too-familiar and harrowing refugee crisis—a crisis that is increasingly dominating the minds of politicians not just in Scotland and the United Kingdom but in the European Union and globally. I am pleased that we agreed to the amendment in Christine McKelvie’s name that extends the provision of a guardian to children who are vulnerable to trafficking. It is estimated that one in four of the thousands of refugees and migrants who are now travelling to Europe in horrendous circumstances are children who are not accompanied by an adult. Those same children are being targeted by traffickers, which makes the need to provide them with a guardian all the more pressing. In the circumstances, it is essential that we do absolutely everything we can to give them the protection that they both need and have a right to expect.
However, it is particularly depressing that the Government chose to vote down the amendment in my name that would have provided those young people with an additional protection in the form of a statutory defence. Such a defence would have been over and above the presumption against prosecution and the Lord Advocate’s instructions. Consequently, an opportunity has been missed to ensure that, under the bill, vulnerable children and young people have maximum protection, or even the same protection that children and young people will enjoy under the trafficking legislation in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland.
I turn to Rhoda Grant’s amendments on the criminalisation of the purchase of sex, which we discussed at stage 2. I said then that I did not believe that the bill afforded us the proper time to take evidence on that important issue. Therefore, although I had some sympathy with the amendments that she lodged at stage 3 regarding research, I believe that the forthcoming abusive behaviour and sexual harm bill will present an excellent opportunity to consult widely on the issue and ensure that the necessary scrutiny is carried out. I hope that Rhoda Grant and the Scottish ministers can work together to achieve that aim.
The cabinet secretary may recall that, at stage 1, I asked about the UK Government pilot that is looking at two areas, Cornwall and West Yorkshire, to discover how the national referral mechanism is working regionally. I understand from the Scottish Government’s response that Scotland was not chosen because there were not sufficient numbers here to make a pilot viable. However, at the time, the cabinet secretary undertook to get more details from the Home Office. Given the number of cannabis farms that are being discovered—they are being discovered almost on a daily basis—and the link between cannabis workers and trafficking, I ask whether he can provide an update on the issue in his closing remarks.
I confirm that the Scottish Conservatives will vote for the bill this evening.
16:19
It is a real privilege to speak in the debate. We would not be here if it were not for the many individuals and groups—there are a few of them sitting in the gallery today—including the cross-party group on human trafficking, who have pushed and encouraged us along, educating and supporting us to bring us to where we are today. Jenny Marra kicked off the process with her consultation for a proposed member’s bill, and we are happy to have worked together to get to this point.
At lunchtime, Jenny Marra and I were happy to go out and collect a petition from ECPAT UK, walk free and Christian Action Research and Education. At that point, the petition had more than 6,000 signatures, which demonstrates clearly that people right across the UK support the aims of the bill, especially when it comes to protecting children. I hope that the cabinet secretary will accept my copy of the petition at the end of the debate on behalf of those groups.
The horrific crime of human trafficking is sometimes called modern-day slavery. The exploitation of humans—women, men and, most disturbingly, children—is one of the most disgusting crimes. I say “crimes” because today we make that practice a crime.
It has truly been a cross-party process in getting to this point. We have all worked to ensure that this is the best piece of legislation. I thank my colleagues for that cross-party support.
At today’s European and External Relations Committee we had a round-table session about the refugee crisis in Europe and beyond. Professor Alison Phipps, who is from the Glasgow refugee, asylum and migration network at the University of Glasgow, told us that unaccompanied children as young as 10 are being indentured by trafficking gangs. For example, some 14, 15 and 16-year-olds are given keys to a boat and a gun and forced to load up people and make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean. It is at that point that we understand not only how huge the organisation behind trafficking is but how huge the impact on people is. We potentially have young people in the system who have been trafficked and indentured into gangs subsequently becoming traffickers themselves. It is in those circumstances that parts of the legislation become very important, because we will describe those young people not as criminals but as victims. That issue is part of the Lord Advocate’s guidance, which I welcome.
The refugee crisis creates so many opportunities for traffickers. Trafficking is not new, but we will see a huge amount of it over the next few months when we start to accept people in this country. We should be accepting far more than the 20,000 refugees that I suspect the UK Government wants to go with.
I recommend that colleagues in the chamber watch a film that we screened in the Parliament called “Nefarious: Merchants of Souls”. They will then truly understand how organised and horrific the crime of trafficking is.
I am very happy that we have strengthened the bill today to protect children and to bring in child guardians. I have been ploughing this furrow long before I was an elected politician, as a member of the Glasgow campaign to welcome refugees and as a Unison shop steward.
We pass lots of legislation in this place, and most of the time we are very pleased with it. When we press our voting buttons at 5 o’clock today, we will create a system that says to traffickers, “You are not welcome. Scotland is closed,” and to trafficked people, especially children, “This is your sanctuary. We will help you make this your home.”
I look forward to working with all my colleagues across the chamber and in civic Scotland to bring about the best strategy. The cabinet secretary may see the passing of the bill as the end of a process but, as Jenny Marra said, for some of us, it is just the start. We are looking forward to working with him to bring about a strategy that gives the best support and the best protection.
16:23
It is almost 200 years since we thought we had abolished slavery, yet today we are passing legislation to tackle modern-day slavery—human trafficking. I pay tribute to Jenny Marra, who was first to raise the issue in the Parliament and who later introduced a proposal for a member’s bill. She takes much of the credit for the bill that is in front of us. I also pay tribute to the many organisations, groups and individuals who have campaigned for this day, too. The Scottish Government recognised the importance of the issue and, in effect, took over her bill; hence we will be voting today on Government legislation.
It is impossible to imagine what it is like to be trafficked. Some people are abducted; others believe that they are being assisted towards a new life and are duped into becoming victims. Some are groomed to such an extent that they believe that they are acting of their own free will, working to pay off debts that they incurred for being smuggled into the country. That makes them very vulnerable because they believe that they are in control of their own destiny and are the ones committing the crime. It will take a long time to win their trust and confidence to the extent that they will accept help and support.
As we legislate to tackle one form of human exploitation, others raise their heads. Of late, we have heard about people smugglers, who prey on the desperation of refugees who are fleeing for their lives. Many of those people are not poor and have money to pay the smugglers who take them on hazardous journeys. The risks that they take are testament to the difficulties that they face at home. The bill does not deal with those issues. We need a compassionate and practical global solution to help people in those situations. Due to the risks that they take, many children and young people are left fleeing alone because their parents are killed. They are often the target of traffickers who are ready to prey on them.
I am disappointed that the Scottish Government has not strengthened the bill with regard to people who are trafficked for sexual exploitation, which is one of the main focuses for traffickers. It is a hugely lucrative business because the people who are being exploited can be sold again and again. Only by tacking prostitution and sexual exploitation with regard to the whole population will we be able to make that trade less attractive to traffickers. That said, the bill covers much of the sexual exploitation industry, albeit that it does not deal with the market for exploitation or the complex assistance that victims require.
The bill is not limited to trafficking from abroad; it covers trafficking everywhere. For example, it covers instances such as that in Rotherham, where young women were trafficked and exploited within the city boundaries. There are powers that, if used properly, can offer protection and redress to people who are exploited in their own towns and cities as well as people who come from abroad. The bill is explicit that the trafficking can take place within the UK.
With regard to prostitution, section 3(3) states that a person is exploited if
“Another person exercises control, direction or influence over prostitution by the person in a way which shows that the other person is aiding, abetting or compelling the prostitution.”
Many people who are in, or have exited, prostitution tell me that they were held in such circumstances. I hope that the bill will go some way to offering them protection. The police, who have led the way in fighting violence against women, will have an additional tool to use to do that. I wish that the Scottish Government would show vision on the issue. That said, I sincerely hope that the work that it is carrying out leads to Scotland becoming a less attractive place for traffickers.
The bill that we will pass today will make a huge difference to the lives of the most vulnerable in our society. I congratulate Jenny Marra on instigating the process and recommend the bill to the chamber.
16:23
I commend Jenny Marra for her drive and determination on human trafficking. We must not forget that her member’s bill consultation laid the foundations for this Government bill. However, Christina McKelvie is right to point also to the cross-party support and determination in the chamber.
Human trafficking is not new, but it is now the fastest-growing international crime. The Equality and Human Rights Commission report of 2011 was the catalyst for action to tackle human trafficking through a coherent legislative framework. That report exposed the grim truth about trafficking in Scotland. It shocked us all. In 2011, Kaliani Lyle, EHRC Scotland commissioner, said:
“Human trafficking is one of the most severe human rights abuses in the modern world. It operates below the radar and is kept there through fear and deception. The experiences of those who are trafficked here are often nothing short of brutal and, in the main, they are carefully hidden from society. The responsibility for tackling trafficking should be shared across agencies, with governments, and with society itself.”
Many victims are exploited in the sex industry, fruit picking or the hospitality industry or are forced to live in brutal conditions as domestic servants. Trafficking occurs throughout Scotland and is not confined to its major cities.
The bill, as introduced, failed to recognise the acute vulnerability of child victims of trafficking. It did not contain a definition of a child nor specify the support to which children would be entitled.
The Government has shown that it is willing to listen to those of us who have campaigned on these issues and has largely either supported the amendments from Jenny Marra, Christina McKelvie and me or agreed with the intention behind our amendments and introduced Government amendments today. There is no doubt that, in its final form, the bill is much improved. It now includes statutory guardianship services, recognition that other relevant authorities have a role in referrals to those services, and the provision of guardianship not just to identified victims of trafficking but to those who are vulnerable and may have been trafficked but whose status is still in question.
During the earlier stages of the bill, with support from Aberlour Child Care Trust and Barnardo’s Scotland, I highlighted the importance of creating such a presumption, so I am particularly pleased that the Scottish Government reconsidered its position on that, meaning that all unaccompanied children will now have an independent guardian. It is right to pay tribute to the Scottish Refugee Council and Aberlour for pioneering the Scottish guardianship service and proving its worth. In just five years, it has helped more than 70 children and young people who have been victims of human trafficking.
The bill now also provides for statutory aggravation in sentencing for a trafficking offence involving a child, and a presumption of age, which ensures that if a person is detained and there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person may be a child, they will receive the type of support that a child would get until their age is confirmed. I support the further changes today that ensure that the evidential test in the Lord Advocate’s instructions for the prosecution of child victims is different and simpler.
Although the bill is an important step on the road to making Scotland a no-go area for human trafficking, there are many more steps that we will have to take together as a society if we are to end these brutal human rights abuses. Today, coincidentally, the historical child abuse inquiry starts its work. The inquiry addresses a monumental failure to understand and take action. Over and over, we have missed human rights abuses going on in our midst. In the past, we struggled to admit that crimes as dreadful as child sexual abuse, domestic abuse or grooming could be committed. That is why traffickers are getting away with their crime. There is still little public awareness of the crime of trafficking. We need to get much better at looking and listening to what is going on in our midst and in the margins.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats will support the bill today.
16:32
Rhoda Grant said that we thought that slavery had been abolished 200 years ago. Human trafficking is a modern-day type of slavery and should be tackled. That is why I welcome the bill.
I particularly welcome the strategy and the duty that is placed on ministers to develop it and keep it under review. Graham O’Neill from the Scottish Refugee Council was right when he said that
“the strategy will be the vehicle for the long-term approach that we need if we are going to tackle such a severe crime and human rights violation.”—[Official Report, Justice Committee, 3 March 2015; c 6.]
He is right when he talks of human trafficking as a severe crime that violates human rights. As we have heard today, human trafficking takes many forms.
Jenny Marra mentioned that she has not met a victim of human trafficking. I have met such a victim, although perhaps that did not happen in the way that a lot of people explain it. This person was brought into the country under false pretences. His passport was taken from him and he was moved from house to house. I will not say what industry he worked in, but it was a service industry. It was very difficult for him and his family, who were still abroad. He had no passport and very little in the way of wages. Most of his salary was taken from him, supposedly to pay his rent, which was for a bed on the floor of a cramped room with about 10 other people. Human trafficking takes many forms.
Christina McKelvie mentioned Alison Phipps, who gave a powerful speech on Tuesday night at the meeting that I mentioned in the members’ business debate this afternoon. Alison spoke about 10-year-olds being exploited by traffickers who were using the refugee situation to exploit vulnerable children.
In the time that I have left, I will touch on Rhoda Grant’s amendment 3. I was a member of the Justice Committee at the beginning of its consideration of the bill, but I was not on the committee for stage 2. However, I understand that no evidence was taken at stage 2 about the subject of amendment 3. Through amendment 3, Rhoda Grant sought
“to introduce legislation to criminalise the purchase of sexual services.”
She was not so much lodging an amendment as attempting to introduce a whole new bill within another bill. Although I sympathise with her and have met her and various groups to discuss the issues, I do not think that the bill is the proper vehicle for such a provision.
I clarify that my amendment 3 allowed for the Government to report back; it would not have required the Government to put forward legislation as Sandra White suggests.
Perhaps I am reading the provision wrongly, but Rhoda Grant’s proposed subsection (7) states:
“The response must in particular set out the Scottish Ministers’ plans ... to introduce legislation to criminalise the purchase of sexual services.”
That is where the problem lies. I sympathise with the intention, as Margaret Mitchell and other members said that they do, but a bill that deals with trafficked people is not the proper vehicle for such a provision. A Government cannot be asked to introduce in its own bill provisions from a member’s bill that has previously fallen.
Will Sandra White give way?
Have I got time, Presiding Officer?
Very briefly.
I briefly refer Sandra White to proposed subsection (8) in my amendment, which allowed ministers not to bring forward the legislation.
I question why Rhoda Grant would want to put the provision in the bill if she wanted ministers to be able to take it out again.
After the provision on introducing legislation, proposed subsection (7)(b) in the amendment states that the ministers should set out plans
“to repeal any enactment which criminalises the selling of sexual services.”
One provision seems to cancel out the other, so the amendment does not appear—at least in my view—to be competent.
16:37
As Jenny Marra said, today is a proud day for the Scottish Parliament and it has been four years in the making. However, as she reminded us, it is merely the first step in the fight against human trafficking. What happens from now on will determine how successful the bill is.
There are many people to thank. I congratulate the Government; the committee; the cross-party group on human trafficking; many external groups, such as the trafficking awareness-raising alliance; the 50,000 people who responded to the consultation; and most of all Jenny Marra, without whom we might not have a bill and who, a few moments ago, made one of the most eloquent and impassioned speeches that I have ever heard in the Parliament.
We are all united today, although there were some differences among us at the final amendment stage. We were united in particular around part 1, and I know that we are all pleased to see the grave and brutal offence of trafficking clearly and explicitly laid down in Scots law with severe sentencing consequences.
There were some disputes about part 1—Margaret Mitchell spoke about the statutory defence issue, for example. On Rhoda Grant’s amendment 3, I repeat what I said earlier: there is a strong link between the sex trade and human trafficking. Jenny Marra wanted to make it clear through one of her many amendments that the criminal offence covers all forms of exploitation. However, those differences notwithstanding, there was strong agreement on part 1.
The key issue now is having a robust strategy for bringing the offenders to justice. Much of the bill is about the protection of victims, and vulnerability is a salient feature in all instances of trafficking. Some concerns were expressed at stage 1 in that regard, and I—and many others—made the point that the provision for counselling was not strong enough. I am pleased that an amendment was accepted at stage 2 to strengthen the provision to include psychological assistance and support; I am not sure that those were the exact words in the amendment, but that was its intention.
There were particular concerns at stage 1 about the vulnerability of children, and that is an area in which our committee scrutiny and amendment process has strengthened the bill considerably. Christina McKelvie lodged an amendment on guardians at stage 2, and those provisions were further reinforced by various amendments that have been agreed to today. However, I regret that Jenny Marra’s amendments 17 and 18 were not agreed to, as they would have clarified the role and ensured that it was fully comprehensive.
The right to support and assistance is an important part of the bill. As we heard from the cabinet secretary, much of that is to be dealt with through regulation, so we will take a close interest in that. I regret that Jenny Marra’s group 6 amendments and her proposals on immediate support and other matters were not agreed to. I hope that all that will be dealt with satisfactorily in the regulations.
As I did at the beginning, I quote Jenny Marra in saying that this is the first day in the fight against trafficking. The three-year anti-slavery strategy will be crucial, so I say well done to Alison McInnes for ensuring that it will be produced within a year of the bill coming into force. We clearly need the strategy to cover awareness raising, prevention and detection and, of course, we need more about support, which is crucial.
An awareness campaign is crucial to ensure that we help victims to escape the clutches of traffickers. As Jenny Marra said, communities are crucial in that. We need to make communities robust against the causes of trafficking and ensure that there is awareness-raising training for front-line staff, which Jenny Marra proposed.
I told Jenny Marra that I would mention her six times. I think that I have exceeded that, but that is not inappropriate in the context of the bill, which I warmly welcome.
We turn to closing speeches. I call Jamie McGrigor.
16:41
I apologise, Presiding Officer, for not being here for the opening speech by the cabinet secretary.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to make closing remarks in today’s stage 3 proceedings on the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill, but before I turn to the task at hand, I thank the Justice Committee for its very good scrutiny of the legislation, and I thank the stakeholders who provided invaluable evidence and contributions throughout the bill’s parliamentary passage, including the organisations that have provided briefings today.
I particularly welcome the cross-party consensus that legislation is required to combat this insidious practice, which is certainly not new but which is nevertheless increasingly pervasive. In May this year, it was reported that eight people were successfully rescued in human trafficking raids across Scotland in Lanarkshire, Tayside, Fife and Dumfries and Galloway. It has further emerged that Scots cannabis farms, which themselves are obviously illegal, frequently use trafficked children for labour. Women are also trafficked with increasing regularity from west Africa, Europe and south-east Asia to Scotland, where a life of servitude and inhumane treatment often awaits them. It is an appalling practice that cannot be allowed to continue.
Because human trafficking is a largely hidden crime, it is, of course, difficult to quantify its exact extent across the UK. My understanding is that, in 2013, there were 55 victims in Scotland and as many as 4,000 across the United Kingdom. No doubt, many more than that go undetected. Clearly, action is urgently required, so I am pleased that the Scottish Government has moved swiftly to legislate on the issue, as have the Westminster Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The Scottish Government has rightly recognised the cross-border nature of the crime and is co-operating closely with the UK Government to ensure, where practical, a co-ordinated approach on the issue.
I agree with Alison McInnes’s points about the evil nature of the crime. We all remember the tragedy of the cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay, who were victims of people trafficking.
Despite the comments on protection of victims that Margaret Mitchell made very well in her opening remarks, the bill has many strengths. Stakeholders seem to be satisfied that it will have the desired effect of making Scotland a hostile environment for human traffickers and those who exploit vulnerable people for financial gain. However, the fact that legislation is about to be added to the statute book does not mean that we should lose sight of the broader issue, which is that traffickers and slave masters will continue to coerce, deceive and force individuals into lives of degradation, at source.
The harrowing pictures that have been splashed across the front pages of national newspapers and on our television screens in recent weeks serve as a stark reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people who would stop at nothing in the hope of creating a safer, more secure life for themselves and their families.
Human trafficking is a complex, multifaceted and evolving issue and our response must adapt to keep pace with it. I therefore urge the Scottish Government to carefully and consistently review the legislation. Similarly, I encourage the Scottish Parliament to conduct rigorous post-legislative scrutiny of the legislation over the coming years to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and is futureproofed, for there is no doubt that perpetrators will do everything in their power to exploit and manipulate vulnerable people to their advantage, regardless of any deterrents that are put in place. We must keep well awake for that.
16:45
I am delighted to be closing the debate for Scottish Labour as parliamentary consideration of this very important bill comes to its end. I, too, pay tribute to Jenny Marra, whose proposals to legislate prompted 45,000 responses on the issue from across the world and were described by Baroness Helena Kennedy, who is the author of the report to which Jenny Marra referred earlier, as being “world leading”. I congratulate the cross-party group on human trafficking on its role in bringing forward the legislation and, of course, the Scottish Government on taking on Jenny Marra’s work and developing this bill, which was based on her bill proposal. Jenny Marra continued her interest in the bill by proposing amendments to improve it at stages 2 and 3.
There can be no more appropriate time than this to pass legislation combating the heinous crime of human trafficking, when every day our television screens and media outlets offer graphic portrayals of refugees fleeing persecution in their own lands and the misery of camps in neighbouring lands. The term “trafficking”, for the illegal and often extremely unsafe transportation of refugees, is not always correct, as Rhoda Grant pointed out, because some of those people are being smuggled rather than trafficked, and when—or if—they arrive at their destination, they are dumped there and left to fend for themselves, so this bill will not help them. However, those who are being trafficked and who are sold into modern-day slavery in other countries will be helped by the bill.
There have been a number of welcome improvements to the bill since stage 1, as Alison McInnes and Malcolm Chisholm said, in response to evidence by witnesses to the Justice Committee. There is now an expanded definition of the term “trafficking” to ensure that people who are not involved in the actual provision and arranging of travel but are involved in other ways in trafficking will also be caught by the bill’s provisions.
References to “youth” and “young” have been removed and the bill makes it clear that a child is defined as being a person under 18 years of age. Specific reference has been made to child victims of trafficking, and an aggravation of the offence of human trafficking involving a child has been included.
The Lord Advocate will now issue instructions rather than guidance regarding non-prosecution of victims of trafficking who have been compelled by their captors to perform illegal activities.
Crucially, independent child-trafficking guardians have been given a statutory basis. A presumption of age section was agreed at stage 2 that requires local authorities and health boards, when there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person is under the age of 18, to consider them to be a child even if there is no direct proof of age.
The stage 2 amendments that put independent guardians for child victims on a statutory footing were particularly welcome. Child victims of traffickers need someone who is independent of the statutory agencies and who is trained to understand the traumatic experiences that the child has gone through and can help them through the many and unfamiliar processes that will face them. The original proposal was to rely on a named person, who might have had little knowledge of the issues that are faced by trafficked children, but that would have been inadequate, and I am pleased that that was acknowledged.
Stage 3 amendments enabling independent child guardians to get access to the information that they need were further improvements. I am pleased that amendment 7 was agreed to at stage 3, because it extends to unaccompanied children who might be particularly vulnerable to trafficking entitlement to independent child guardians.
Research was drawn to my attention by my daughter, who is doing work on a mental health nursing qualification. It is very recent research on the mental health needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and it illustrates how especially vulnerable those children are to mental health problems and how difficult it is for such young people to access assistance or even to recognise the problems that they have. An independent guardian will therefore be particularly important for such children who have travelled into this country. They might not have been trafficked, but because of their situation they will be particularly vulnerable to being preyed on by traffickers when they get here.
Jenny Marra’s amendment 17 recognised that some children are trafficked by their family members and they also have a need for independent statutory legal guardianship. The amendment was not agreed to so I hope that the legislation will protect children who have been trafficked by their own families and other people who are close to them.
At stage 2, Rhoda Grant lodged amendments that would have criminalised the purchase of sex and decriminalised its sale. Although some members, myself included, agreed that that would reduce the demand for the trafficking of sex workers, the committee was concerned about the introduction of a significant new policy at stage 2. Rhoda Grant therefore did not press her amendments, but lodged a different amendment at stage 3 that would have required the Government to undertake research into the impact of criminalisation of the purchase of sex on policy areas such as violence against women and the commercial exploitation of sex, and to report to Parliament on that. Despite the amendment’s rejection, we look forward to the publication of the Scottish Government’s research and the subsequent discussion of its findings and conclusions. The issue will not go away.
The bill is extremely important; it is a trailblazing bill. As Jenny Marra, Christina McKelvie, Malcolm Chisholm and others have said, it is just the start of a journey. It is the beginning of the end of human trafficking in Scotland.
16:51
I have welcomed the contributions to the debate from across the chamber. I recognise the strong cross-party support for the bill. We need to make sure that effective measures are in place to tackle the abhorrent crime of human trafficking and exploitation.
I recognise that significant work has been done over a number of years—by Jenny Marra, by the cross-party group and by a number of other organisations—to highlight human trafficking. There is no doubt that that collective effort has led to a greater understanding of the issue and determination to address it as effectively as possible.
From the comments that have been made during the debate, it is clear that there is a considerable level of interest in the development and shaping of the strategy that the bill, if passed by Parliament tonight, will place a statutory obligation on ministers to prepare. I assure all members that we will have a thorough and detailed engagement process with interested stakeholders about the development and implementation of the strategy to ensure that it is effective, hits all the right points and makes sure that we are doing everything possible to tackle human trafficking and exploitation.
Jenny Marra referred to the timing of that engagement. The Government has already started some of the initial work in developing the strategy, but the bill provides assurances about the timing because the strategy must be delivered within one year of section 1 coming into force. We have a statutory obligation to deliver it within that timeframe, which is why some of the initial work has already started.
I was clear on the timing and on the obligations that the bill sets on that. I was looking for further clarification on lead accountability and to find out whether a group of stakeholders will lead the process.
There is no doubt that stakeholders will have a key role to play not just in shaping the strategy but in looking at its implementation once it has been introduced. I want stakeholders to have a meaningful role in making sure that the strategy is implemented effectively. I am open to that being in the form of a reference group, or otherwise, but I do not want stakeholders to be involved only in the shaping of the strategy; I want them to be closely involved with how it is implemented in the period leading up to the three-year review that is part of the process.
Jenny Marra raised another important point about the provision of training that will be delivered as part of the strategy. Clearly, training will be an important part of the strategy. There have been initial discussions with the national health service and Police Scotland, and other sectors can play their part, too. We must give careful consideration to the quality and quantity of training. As we develop and implement provisions on training, we must not lose sight of quality in our attempts to reach greater numbers—we must get the balance right. That will be a key part of the work that we do as part of the strategy.
I thank the cabinet secretary for giving way again. Did he note my suggestion about training for lawyers? The Faculty of Advocates will hold an event on 10 October, but it might also be an idea to speak to the university law schools about training on statutory criminal law, as well as common law.
I think that the bill that we are about to pass will present an opportunity to raise awareness among people who are undertaking law degrees, but I am more than open to considering which groups we should target as part of a training regime.
Margaret Mitchell raised the statutory defence issue. The approach that the Government has taken in that regard is different from the one that she wanted us to take, but I say in the strongest possible terms that it is wrong to suggest that the bill will provide less protection than the Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides. We have taken a different approach. We do not think that a statutory defence is appropriate in Scotland, and we think that the Lord Advocate issuing instructions is a better and much more effective approach, which is less likely to lead to injustice in Scotland, as the Lord Advocate said himself.
It is fundamentally wrong to suggest that the bill provides less protection. That is certainly not the case.
Margaret Mitchell rose—
I ask the member to let me finish this point.
Some people are asking significant questions about the workability of the statutory defence provision in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, because of the 130 exceptions and carve-outs that are being created. Our legislation will not have that complexity, which is why the Lord Advocate takes the view that our pragmatic and victim-centred approach will reduce the risk of injustice in Scotland.
The point is that we could have had both approaches, which would probably have made the bill better than other legislation in the UK. Is the bottom line not that it would have cost more to have provided for a statutory defence? Was that not the real reason why a statutory defence was not included along with the Lord Advocate’s guidance and instructions?
That is one of the most bizarre arguments I have heard about our approach to a statutory defence. It had nothing to do with cost; it was about taking the right approach and striking the right balance. I regret the tone that the member has taken in suggesting that the bill does not provide the right level of protection, when it does quite the opposite and the Parliament should be proud of how we have achieved that.
Margaret Mitchell also asked about the national referral mechanism. We are continuing to discuss the NRM with the Home Office in the context of the pilots in West Yorkshire and Cornwall, and we will continue to engage with the Home Office.
A number of members said that today is the start of the process of tackling human trafficking. I do not entirely agree, because a significant amount of work has already been undertaken by our law enforcement agencies and prosecution services—Jamie McGrigor talked about that—as well as by third sector organisations. However, this is the day on which we up the stakes and ensure that Scotland is a hostile environment for people who want to peddle the misery that is associated with human trafficking and exploitation. In supporting the bill, our message to those people is clear: they are not welcome here. Our message to victims of the appalling crime of trafficking is that Scotland is a haven and a sanctuary, where we will support them to overcome the abuse that they have experienced.