Academics to give evidence to Lords committee on Modern Slavery

Giving evidence at 4:00pm will be:

• Sir Bernard Silverman, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Oxford
• Dr Rowland Seymour, Assistant Professor in Mathematics at the University of Birmingham
• Olivia Hesketh, Director of Policy Impact at the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre

Questions the committee is likely to ask include:

• What methodologies can be applied to measure modern slavery?
• How can estimates be made of particular forms of exploitation?
• The Government has said that it thinks the modern slavery system is being abused by illegal migrants. Is this supported by the data?
• What additional data on modern slavery should be collected and made public?

Giving evidence at 5:00pm will be:

• Professor Dame Sara Thornton, Rights Lab Professor of Practice in Modern Slavery Policy at the University of Nottingham
• Tatiana Gren-Jardan, Head of the Modern Slavery Policy Unit at Justice and Care and the Centre for Social Justice
• Alison Logier, Director of Modern Slavery Response at Hestia

Questions the committee is likely to ask include:

• The Government has recently prioritised immigration over modern slavery. What has been the impact on the protections afforded to victims?
• What can be done to reduce the significant increases in exploitation in the care sector?
• Prosecution rates for modern slavery offences are low. Is this primarily an issue with the legislation or its implementation?
• Supply chain management is a powerful tool in tackling modern slavery, which is currently not fully utilised. Given this, how should section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act be updated?

The session will take place on Monday 15 April 2024 and can be followed live on Parliament TV.