Member

The Government remain committed to the identification of victims of modern slavery; this is a very important commitment for the Government, as it was for the previous one. But linking the visa penalty provisions to victim identification would not be an effective use of the visa penalty powers and the Government would not support it. As noble Lords know, visa penalties are one of many important levers in the Government’s toolbox to incentivise international co-operation on returns. As the noble Lord, Lord German, noted, working with our international partners to improve returns has been an important priority for the Government. Indeed, we have improved our performance on returns in part by improving our co-operation with international partners.