Agenda item

To consider the following motions:

·        Liberal Democrat alternative budget 2019/20

·        Modern Slavery proposed by Councillor Fisher

The following motion proposed by Councillor Fisher was agreed:

The Council has demonstrated its concern with the serious problem of modern slavery by providing awareness training for staff and members. However the Council needs to press ahead with work to ensure that its supply chain is free from any taint of modern slavery.

It therefore resolves to sign the Charter Against Modern Slavery put forward by the Co-operative Party and already signed by over eighty councils of various political complexions.

This pledges to:

1.    Train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply.

2.    Require its contractors to comply fully with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, wherever it applies, with contract termination as a potential sanctions for non-compliance.

3.    Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery.

4.    Highlight to its suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one.

5.    Publicise its whistle-blowing system for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.

6.    Require its tendered contractors to adopt a whistleblowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.

7.    Review its contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery.

8.    Highlight for its suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed.

9.    Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any of its contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery.

10.  Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually.

The Council will take a lead locally in the fight against modern slavery.

Cllr Fisher set out the proposal supporting the fight against modern slavery locally.

The Council has demonstrated its concern with the serious problem of modern slavery by providing awareness training for staff and members. However the Council needs to press ahead with work to ensure that its supply chain is free from any taint of modern slavery.

It therefore resolves to sign the Charter Against Modern Slavery put forward by the Co-operative Party and already signed by over eighty councils of various political complexions.

This pledges to:

1.    Train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply.

2.    Require its contractors to comply fully with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, wherever it applies, with contract termination as a potential sanctions for non-compliance.

3.    Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery.

4.    Highlight to its suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one.

5.    Publicise its whistle-blowing system for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.

6.    Require its tendered contractors to adopt a whistleblowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.

7.    Review its contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery.

8.    Highlight for its suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed.

9.    Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any of its contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery.

10.  Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually.

Cllr Williams felt the motion replicated work that has already been undertaken and appropriate measures are already in place, therefore he is happy to support the motion and implement it as policy.

Cllr C Wyatt-Lowe said she would be voting to support this motion and would like to reflect that in Hertfordshire where we have been working together in partnership which we do very well at all levels of local government and with local police.  We already have many elements that comprise this particular proposal and how widespread this has got.  Cllr C Wyatt-Lowe would like to remind Members that Hertfordshire Police were the first Police force in the Country to obtain a successful conviction for offences against modern slavery and have done great pioneering work on this issue, which has been recognised in the House of Commons.  Cllr C Wyatt-Lowe said she will certainly support this motion.

Cllr England said this is very much not just a policy issue, it’s a real life issue for many, many people.  Early in 2015 the coalition government passed the Modern Slavery Act to make it easier to identify victims and bring traffickers to justice and prosecutions have increased as a result, but now many of Theresa May’s own policies are undermining efforts to tackle this problem.  The hostile environment introduced by the Home Secretary is making it harder for victims to come forward, whether to report crimes or seek medical help.  In 2016 for example she created a new offence of people working, which traffickers use to keep victims in fear of prosecution if they seek help.  Cllr England said this was in 2016, a time when the Government had become free of the restraining leash of the Lib Dems. 

Cllr England added that perhaps the biggest stretch in efforts to combat modern slavery is the Governments defacto policy on a hard Brexit as it now has to be postponed.  As the European Commission, the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee and respective Scrutiny experts have all made clear, it puts things like tactics like prosecutions and the cooperation that we rely on to fight organised crime and human trafficking.

Cllr Tindall said that he had seconded this motion in order to ensure it’s referred because it is a very important subject, particularly as we move towards a period of uncertainty.  This alliance is in the same category of domestic abuse, an abuse of individual’s human rights against human rights generally an abhorrent practice by anybody concerned.  Cllr Tindall felt that the problems we have is that as times get harder over the coming months, it behoves us all to encourage everyone to treat everybody as human beings and to try and protect those who are less able to protect themselves.

Cllr Fisher thanked everyone for their support and was pleased this was met with such favour and asked to proceed to the vote.

The motion proposed by Councillor Fisher, seconded by Cllr Tindall was supported unanimously.