Lord Hussain (LD)

My Lords, I am grateful to be able to speak in the gap. I join noble Lords in welcoming the noble Lord, Lord Sarwar, to this House, and we look forward to working with him. Given his new responsibility as a Trade Minister, I will ask a question or two. I do not mind receiving a reply in writing if he cannot answer the questions now. What assessment has his department made of forced labour in UK supply chains in India? India is one of the most important trading partners, with bilateral trade worth over £40 billion. But according to the Global Slavery Index, India has one of the highest absolute numbers of people in modern slavery, and the ILO and UK modern slavery assessments have repeatedly flagged up high-risk sectors, including textiles and garments, brick kilns, agriculture and leather. My questions are threefold. First, what due diligence does the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade require of UK firms importing from high-risk regions in India? Secondly, under the developing UK-India free trade agreement, what binding labour provisions will ensure that trade does not profit from forced labour? Thirdly, what practical support, not just guidance, are the Government providing to help British SMEs which do not have large compliance teams to audit their supply chains, remediate where abuse is found and source ethically?