Nationality and Borders Bill — New Clause 6 — Exemptions for Child Victims of Modern Slavery, Exploitation or Trafficking — 8 Dec 2021 at 14:45

The majority of MPs voted not to exempt potential child victims of modern slavery, exploitation or trafficking from requirements to provide information to determine if they are in-fact a victim, not to exempt such children from being denied support on the grounds of being considered a threat to public order, or having claimed to be a victim in bad faith, and not to exempt them from a limit of one recovery period.

MPs were considering the Nationality and Borders Bill.^[1][2][3]

The proposed new clause rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was titled: Exemption for child victims of modern slavery, exploitation or trafficking and stated:

• (1) The Secretary of State may not serve a slavery or trafficking information notice on a person in respect of an incident or incidents which occurred when the person was aged under 18 years.
• (2) Section 61 of this Act does not apply in cases where either of the positive reasonable grounds decisions related to an incident or incidents which occurred when the person was aged under 18 years.
• (3) Section 62 of this Act does not apply in cases where the positive reasonable grounds decision related to an incident or incidents which occurred when the person was aged under 18 years.
• (4) Sections 64(3) and 64(6) of this Act do not apply in cases where the positive conclusive grounds decision related to an incident or incidents which occurred when the person was aged under 18 years.

The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer^[4]:

• This new clause would exempt victims of modern slavery, exploitation or trafficking from many of the provisions in Part 5 of the Bill if they were under 18 when they became a victim.

A slavery or trafficking information notice requires an individual to provide information required to assess if they are, or may be, a victim of modern slavery / human trafficking, to determine eligibility for help and support.^[2][3]

Section 61 provided that only one period of recovery would be provided to a potential victim of modern slavery / human trafficking.^[2][3]

Section 62 provided an exemption to the provision of a recovery period for a potential victim of modern slavery / human trafficking on the grounds that the individual is a threat to public order or has claimed to be a victim in bad faith.^[2][3]

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Nationality and Borders Bill, Parliament.uk
• [2] Nationality and Borders Bill, as amended in Public Bill Committee, 4 November 2021, Parliament.uk
• [3] Explanatory notes to the Nationality and Borders Bill, as introduced 6 July 2021, Parliament.uk
• [4] Amendment paper for consideration of the Nationality and Borders Bill by the House of Commons on 8 December 2021, Parliament.uk

Debate in Parliament |