Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Justice to detail any steps that are being taken to improve safeguarding for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Minister of Justice: Individuals in Northern Ireland who are identified as potential victims of modern slavery or human trafficking (MSHT) are referred for support via the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The NRM is administrated by the Home Office and is the UK wide mechanism for identifying and protecting victims of MSHT and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. Once referred, adult victims/potential victims will receive support from one of my Department’s contracted support providers. Support for child victims is the responsibility of the Department of Health.
Support for adult victims/potential victims is supplied based on individual need and can include, among other things: accommodation; living expenses; access to health and social care; and counselling. The support contracts with Belfast & Lisburn Women’s Aid and Migrant Help were renewed in 2023 following a tender process. Migrant Help provide support to male victims and their families and Belfast & Lisburn Women’s Aid to female victims and their children. The victims supported through my Department’s support contracts have suffered major traumas in their lives, the support provided helps them deal with the trauma, empowers them and their families to recover and thrive in NI and helps protect them from further exploitation. As a core commitment under the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Strategy 2024-2027, which I published in July 2024, my Department keeps support provision under continuous review through regular engagement with service providers and frontline stakeholders.
While responsibility for modern slavery policy sits with my Department, the Department of Health has lead responsibility for safeguarding of child victims. My Department supported the Department of Health in securing Home Office funding for a regional Northern Ireland NRM Child Decision-Making Pilot.
The purpose of the pilot is to test whether determining if a child is a victim of modern slavery within existing safeguarding structures is a more appropriate model for making modern slavery decisions for children. This approach enables more timely decisions about whether a child is a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking to be made by those involved in their care and ensure the decisions made are closely aligned with the provision of local, needs-based support and any law enforcement response. The pilot went live in January 2026 and has seen a healthy volume of referrals. We’re expecting this pilot to make a real difference in strengthening awareness, recognition, and the quality of decision making in child exploitation cases.
My Department has also extended a new criminal offence of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) and civil CCE Prevention Orders from the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
The CCE offence aims to improve identification of victims, deliver an increase in prosecutions by driving behavioural change and addressing evidential challenges with existing offences, and be a deterrent to gangs from enlisting children by charging them as child exploiters with a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
The CCE Prevention Orders are civil measures, which are intended to disrupt exploitative behaviours and safeguard children and are modelled on existing frameworks such as Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders and Sexual Offences Prevention Orders.
My officials have begun preparations for the development of a new 3-year Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Strategy, with a view to publication in the summer of 2027. This new Strategy will be developed in collaboration with our statutory and non-statutory partners, including slavery and trafficking victim support providers Belfast & Lisburn Women’s Aid and Migrant Help, and will seek to ensure that support for victims remains effective at protecting individuals from further exploitation.
Victims of sexual exploitation may be eligible for support from the Sexual Offences Legal Advisers (SOLA) Service or the Children’s Sexual Offences Legal Advisers (CSOLA) Service, where they meet the relevant referral criteria. The service is funded by my Department and delivered by Victim Support NI.
SOLAs and CSOLAs are qualified solicitors who provide free, independent legal advice to victims of serious sexual offences, including support to challenge or limit disclosure of private material.
SOLAs and CSOLAs can support victims before reporting to PSNI and through to trial, helping them understand the process and, where requested, seek case updates on their behalf from the PSNI, PPS and NICTS on their behalf.
ENDS
Your MLA 