Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2024-2025

6. Due diligence in relation to modern slavery

The following section reflects sectors from which the Scottish Government procures services and where, globally, issues have been previously reported with regards to slavery and trafficking risk.

Agriculture

Agriculture is a significant sector within Scotland's rural economy and food supply chain. The sector relies on a diverse workforce, including seasonal and migrant labour, and often involves complex labour supply arrangements. Globally, agriculture is recognised as a sector with an elevated risk of labour exploitation, including modern slavery and human trafficking, particularly where workers may be vulnerable due to their employment status, language barriers, accommodation arrangements, or dependence on labour providers.

In Scotland, agricultural workers benefit from additional protections through the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949. The Agricultural Wages Board for Scotland sets minimum rates of pay and terms and conditions for agricultural workers, helping to safeguard fair treatment and reduce the risk of exploitation within the sector.

The Scottish Government continues to support fair work and responsible business practices through engagement with industry stakeholders and by promoting compliance with relevant employment legislation. We encourage employers and suppliers to undertake appropriate due diligence within their operations and supply chains, helping to identify, prevent and address risks associated with modern slavery, human trafficking and labour exploitation.

Through ongoing engagement with stakeholders and suppliers, we seek to encourage continuous improvement in labour standards, worker welfare and ethical business conduct across agricultural supply chains, helping to reduce the risk of exploitation and support sustainable rural communities.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

There are recognised human rights risks and exploitation associated with the global supply chain for electronic products, for example as outlined by the Responsible Business Alliance. The Scottish Government have a suite of collaborative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) product framework agreements in place – these are national frameworks which can be used by all Scottish public bodies.

When putting these frameworks in place we focused on delivering positive social, economic and environmental outcomes aligned to Scotland’s National Outcomes and Ministerial priorities. We have included robust terms and conditions which allows for continuous improvement through contract management and provides scope to request and obtain information on supply chain risk and issues to help mitigate the risk of unethical practices throughout the supply chain.

In line with our legislative requirements these frameworks include contract terms and conditions to allow for contract termination if the contractor or a sub-contractor fails to comply with environmental, social or employment law when carrying out these frameworks.

Contract and supplier management are key, and in these frameworks there is a focus on ethically traded supply chains. We continue to ensure that our suppliers conduct appropriate due diligence in relation to supply chain activities and provide transparency of business and supply chain operations to ensure that legislative obligations and best practice are applied and adopted in relation to modern slavery, labour standards, working conditions and human rights. This can include onsite compliance and the sharing of auditing and reporting for monitoring and improving labour standards in their supply chain.

We also continue to check whether our existing, relevant contractors have published a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement to ensure compliance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Construction

Construction is a significant contributor to and participant in the economy of Scotland. The construction industry in Scotland, including related built environment sectors, has an annual turnover of around £21 billion and employs around 332,000 people.

The nature of construction projects is that they are delivered by a variety of different companies working under a main contractor and engaged from time to time during the construction programme. They may include the use of migrant labour, long supply chains, and materials supplied from a wide range of countries. This means that there are opportunities to exploit weaknesses in processes or cause harm where the client and main contractor are not fully engaged in every aspect of the delivery of quality outputs.

Projects which focus on reducing costs at the expense of the fair treatment of workers or on the delivery of quality outputs are more likely to be susceptible to illegal and/or immoral practices including the use of trafficked or cheap labour.

Our construction procurement and project guidance (The Client Guide to Construction Projects and Construction Policy Notes) sets out our policy on the effective and sustainable delivery of construction projects including around Abnormally Low Tenders, Sustainable pricing and effective price evaluation (Graduated Pricing Mechanism). These policies can contribute to reducing the opportunities for organised crime to exploit the low prices and the consequent low margins they can create.

The Client Guide to Construction Projects is the principle guidance for construction projects in the Scottish public sector. It aims to promote the concept of intelligent clients and support the delivery of successful projects through proper project initiation, specification, procurement, assurance, quality management systems, inspection and contract management.

In 2024 we procured our first framework from our Construction Portfolio, the Civil Engineering (Scotland) Framework for projects ranging from £5 million to £100 million with a, without commitment, 4-year pipeline of approximately £600 million. In 2025 we supplemented this with a Civil Engineering (Scotland) Dynamic Purchasing System for projects up to £5 million. Both commercial arrangements embedded performance in the supply chain throughout their respective procurement processes.