The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (Lord Sarwar) (Lab)

I thank noble Lords and I am pleased to respond for the Government. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool, for securing this important debate and thank him for the characteristically powerful and principled arguments that he made and for the way in which he continues to campaign on this important issue. I say right at the start that I can tell there is an impatience among noble Lords to see progress on this issue. I reassure them that I am an impatient Minister. I want us to get things done and to get them done quickly and in the interests of people right across this country and of our international obligations, too. That is a firm commitment that I want to make to Members across this Chamber. I thank the Joint Committee on Human Rights for its thorough report, Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains, and all noble Lords who have contributed to today’s debate. I will digress for just one moment to thank the doorkeepers and all the staff who made me and my family feel very welcome and made yesterday a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable day. I also thank the Whips’ Office for making sure to have me busy, not just yesterday but today and on Monday too. I will endeavour to address as many of the points raised as possible within my allocated time. If I do not cover any points, I make a firm commitment that not only will I write to all noble Lords but also that my door is always open to any noble Lord who has raised an issue in this Chamber and wants to meet to discuss it. Let me be absolutely clear: forced labour is an egregious abuse of human rights. I think we are all in agreement on what we want the outcomes to be. What we have to work through is how we get to those outcomes. I have served in a Parliament where we were very good at putting words in pieces of legislation, but what we were not good at was changing the outcomes. I want to make sure that we are changing outcomes for businesses in this country but also for workers right across the globe. Forced labour strips people of their freedom, dignity and agency. It has no place in the supply chains of British businesses, goods purchased by the British Government or products sold to British consumers. The scale of the challenge is sobering. An estimated 27.6 million people worldwide are subject to forced labour, including more than 3 million children. Forced labour generates an estimated $236 billion in illegal profits annually. Behind those statistics are human beings—workers coerced by threats, children put in danger, families separated and communities denied the basic right to live and work freely. That is why I welcome the committee’s work and share its concerns. An estimated 70% of global trade now flows through complex supply chains. That tells us the challenge. Globalisation has delivered enormous gains in productivity, innovation and living standards, but it has made the trading system complex, and the opacity of modern supply networks can also hide exploitation. Some products may pass through thousands of suppliers across multiple jurisdictions before they reach consumers here in the UK. That means we have to think this through very carefully. Many noble Lords mentioned Xinjiang and the abuses faced by the Uyghur communities. This Government will remain absolutely resolute in opposing human rights abuses worldwide, including in Xinjiang, where substantial evidence indicates the persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. My Ministers in the other place continue to raise these concerns directly at the very highest level. The United Kingdom has a proud record of leading efforts to combat forced labour in supply chains. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 made us the first country in the world to require businesses to report on the steps they were taking to address modern slavery. It brought the issue into boardrooms, strengthened transparency and accountability, and prompted other countries to act. However, groundbreaking legislation should not remain unchanged. More than a decade later, we must honestly assess whether the framework is for purpose. Many noble Lords mentioned Section 54 and how it requires larger businesses operating in the United Kingdom to publish annual statements outlining the steps they are taking to prevent modern slavery across their operations and supply chains. But analysis shows that around only 60% of companies have met those basic requirements. Transparency is meaningful, but the outcomes should be based on the actions, and that is where we need to see progress. A statement must not become a substitute for effective due diligence, nor reporting be seen as an end in itself. That is why the Government are strengthening the regime through the forthcoming Immigration and Asylum Bill. It will establish clear reporting topics and deadlines, require the publication of statements on the modern slavery statement registry and clarify the rules governing group statements. It will also extend the reporting obligations to public authorities with budgets of £36 million or more and introduce penalties of up to £1 million or 1% of annual turnover—whichever is higher—for organisations that fail to comply. Together, these measures will raise reporting standards, strengthen accountability and help responsible businesses compete on a level playing field. Alongside these reforms, the Government have completed the responsible business conduct review announced in the trade strategy. The review assessed the effectiveness of the United Kingdom’s approach to responsible business conduct, with a particular focus on the global supply chains of businesses operating here. It considered a range of measures, including mandatory human rights due diligence and forced labour import bans, and it drew on the expertise of businesses, investors, trade unions, academics and civil society organisations. Importantly, it also heard from survivors and representatives of communities on the front line of supply chain abuses, including adults with lived experience of modern slavery. We have also engaged with international partners that have shifted from voluntary approaches to mandatory due diligence and import restrictions, and we are carefully considering what can be learned from those systems. As noble Lords are aware, the review is complete and the Government are considering its findings. We will set out our approach in due course. Let me reiterate that I appreciate the committee’s and noble Lords’ impatience for greater clarity. I promise that I will not test their patience, but I think noble Lords will accept that, with the formation of a new Government and new Ministers, we are looking at this with fresh eyes. I have been robustly clear with officials in my own department and beyond that I want systems that work and that change the outcomes. That is a commitment that noble Lords have from me, because any strengthened framework must change behaviour, not merely increase paperwork. It must be clear, proportionate and enforceable. It must support responsible businesses and ensure that they are not undercut by competitors willing to profit from exploitation. Proportionality is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses, which lack the resources and commercial leverage of the multinational companies. That does not mean lowering our ambitions; it means establishing clear, risk-based obligations and providing businesses with the practical guidance they need to meet. The committee’s recommendation for an import ban has been a prominent feature of today’s debate, and the Government understand the full force of that argument. An effective import measure could protect victims, responsible businesses and British consumers alike. However, it does require credible evidence, reliable traceability, clear decision-making and properly resourced enforcement. We must ensure that any measure is legally robust and operationally feasible, and genuinely disrupts forced labour, rather than merely diverting tainted goods through less transparent routes. The Government are already using a range of other measures. The Procurement Act 2023 enables public bodies to reject bids and terminate contracts with suppliers known to use forced labour. The NHS procurement regulations require public bodies to assess modern slavery risks and take responsible and proportionate measures to address them. I note the point made about greater transparency on the outcomes of those measures, and I am happy to follow up with individual Members on that. Our trade policy also plays an important role. We pursue anti-forced labour provisions in our free trade agreements, while the developing countries trading scheme allows preferential trading arrangements to be suspended in cases of serious labour rights violations. A question was asked, for example, about the free trade agreement with India. Our agreement with India is one of the first that India has signed that includes a labour chapter. That is the kind of leadership I hope we can show in other free trade agreements. Another issue that has been raised is clean energy supply chains and the link to forced labour. These points were powerfully made by the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and others. The transition to clean energy must not and cannot be built on exploitation. The Great British Energy Act was therefore amended to ensure that Great British Energy takes credible and proportionate measures to manage forced labour risks. We expect Great British Energy to demonstrate leadership, while the Solar Taskforce has worked to support resilient, sustainable and innovative supply chains that are free from forced labour. The noble Lord, Lord Alton, asked for an update on the solar road map. Since its establishment, we have established the Solar Council, which brings together key officials and Ministers with a clear commitment to deliver transparency on supply chains. I am happy to update the noble Lord on that in more detail. We must also place victims at the centre of our response because, when exploitation is uncovered, businesses should seek to prevent further harm and secure meaningful remediation, not simply terminate a contract and abandon vulnerable workers to an even more precarious situation. No single measure, whether a reporting requirement, a due diligence report, procurement rules, trade provisions, import restrictions or criminal enforcement, will solve this problem on its own. It needs a coherent, whole-system response backed by better data, greater traceability, effective enforcement and international co-operation. The committee’s report poses a serious challenge to the Government, business and Parliament, and I do not downplay or dismiss that. I again commit to noble Lords to do everything I can to work with them and make significant progress in this area. There were one or two other issues raised; if I do not cover them in the next 30 seconds or minute, I will happily write to individual Members. We are working with our Home Office colleagues on what more we can do to use the Proceeds of Crime Act, and I would be happy to follow up on that. On my noble friend Lady O’Grady’s question, I am looking forward to meeting the Corporate Justice Coalition very soon to discuss its campaign and what more we can do to deliver on the outcomes that it rightly demands of us. To the noble Lord who asked questions around the reports on the outcomes of the FTA with India and what assessments we have made, I am more than happy to come back on that issue. In closing, I reiterate that this is a collective challenge to all of us. It is an obligation based on our values as a country and to those less fortunate than us right across the globe. This Government and, I am sure, this Chamber will not step back from that commitment.