Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy: fifth progress report

Section 3: Action Area 3 – Address the conditions that foster trafficking and exploitation

Action Area 3 is focused on those factors which can increase vulnerability to human trafficking. Due to capacity constraints, this implementation group has received less focus during the reporting period although a range of positive developments are noted in this section.

Action Area 3 is chaired by the Scottish Government.

Membership of the group includes:

• Anti-Slavery International
• Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group
• Brightwork Recruitment
• Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)
• Hope for Justice
• Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC)
• International Justice Mission (IJM)
• Police Scotland
• Renfrewshire Council
• Scottish Government (human trafficking policy, procurement policy, homelessness policy, organised crime policy, equality policy)
• Scotland Against Modern Slavery (SAMS)
• University of Stirling Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection.

Action Area 3 – fourth progress report

The fourth progress report identified the following priorities for Action Area 3 during the reporting period. These were:

• continue to raise awareness of and compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 amongst businesses in Scotland. Working closely with Scotland Against Modern Slavery, the group will look to develop the private sector response to human trafficking and exploitation, including the creation of pathways to employment where appropriate
• the group will support the consideration of the extension of transparency in supply chain legislation to Scotland
• following the fifth public survey on awareness of human trafficking and exploitation in 2021, Action Area 3 will assess the ongoing benefits of a public awareness survey and, if beneficial, whether the question set should be revisited.

Key outcome: people know about the extent of trafficking in Scotland

Data from the NRM is the primary source of information about the extent of human trafficking in Scotland. However, this provides only part of the picture as exploitation is hidden in plain sight and can be challenging to detect. Recognising the signs of human trafficking and reporting these to Police Scotland or the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline is a key part of victim identification and disruption of perpetrators.

Following the fifth annual public awareness study in 2021, the Scottish Government reflected on the ongoing benefits of such a survey which, by 2022 was five years removed from our media campaign. Given the time that had passed, it was decided that the survey should be paused while the existing Strategy was reviewed and a refreshed Strategy developed.

The Scottish Government continues to promote the UK-wide Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline (08000 121 700) and encourages anyone to report concerns they may have through the telephone line, website or app. The Helpline is experiencing an increase in reporting from Scotland, with 215 referrals in 2021, 230 in 2022 and 296 in 2023. Referrals in 2023 included 47 reports received via the Unseen app.

The Scottish Government has maintained strong links with the Modern Slavery & Human Rights Policy & Evidence Centre19 (MS PEC).

As noted in the fourth progress report20, the MS PEC funded a research project to evaluate the provision of distributed technology21 to adults with lived experience of modern slavery, conducted by the University of Liverpool in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA). The research was published in June 2023.

In July 2023, the MS PEC published a study by University of Stirling researchers following 18 months of research carried out with young people supported by the Scottish Guardianship Service22. The study looks at what constitutes sustainable support over several years for young people following experiences of child trafficking.

During the reporting period, MS PEC and the Scottish Government met regularly to discuss research priorities and upcoming publications.

Key outcome: people and businesses are aware of how what they do and buy can contribute to this crime

The prevention, identification or disruption of human trafficking requires a wide-ranging response. Businesses play a key role in this response. The Scottish Government has continued to support the development of Scotland Against Modern Slavery23 (SAMS) alongside Shan Saba, a director with Brightwork Recruitment. SAMS continues to inform and share best practice about human trafficking and exploitation throughout the business community in Scotland.

SAMS has grown to have 60 members across the Scottish business community with a focus on the growth areas of the Scottish economy. Recent additions of Scottish and Southern Energy and Charles River Laboratories have been founding members of the Green Energy and Life Sciences groups. Throughout this period SAMS has engaged with the membership and with Scottish Care to represent the Care sector around concerns about the exploitation of sponsorship visas in Scotland.

SAMS continues to be fully funded by Brightwork Recruitment which is part of the Staffline Group and is administered by Shan Saba and a number of the team at Brightwork.There have been a number of online roundtables held in the period including:

• the Role of Investors in Tacking Labour Exploitation, with guest Dame Sara Thornton
• in partnership with Scottish Care - sharing best practice standards and experiences around the international recruitment of staff
• migrant workers, sponsor visas, and the worker’s story
• Biffa Waste – overview and learnings from Operation Fort
• Illegal Migration Bill and Modern Slavery clauses – Lord Vernon Coaker
• changes to EU Settlement Scheme
• Police Scotland – DSU Stevie Bertram – overview of Policing and Prevention from Police Scotland
• complex global supply chains
• creation of SAMS Accelerator Series – commenced with a session on identifying modern slavery risk in your supply chains.

In addition, a podcast series began in March 2024 with Police Scotland’s National Human Trafficking Unit lead Detective Superintendent, where he provided insight into the role of the Police in preventing and disrupting exploitation in Scotland. Other events included a business breakfast hosted by Moray Chamber of Commerce, where presentations were delivered by Police Scotland, Johnsons of Elgin, Harper MacLeod, and the Scottish Government.

As set out in the fourth progress report, the Scottish Government consulted24 about an extension of Transparency in Supply Chains (TISC) requirements with Scottish public bodies between June and August 2022. An analysis25 of the consultation responses was published in December 2022. The vast majority of respondents supported the extension of TISC requirements to Scottish public bodies with a budget of £36m or more, although some concerns were raised about the resource implications of compliance with any legislative requirement. However, the previous UK Government paused work on TISC. The Scottish Government will engage constructively with the new UK Government to progress this key preventative approach.

Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

The Scottish Government published its first Slavery and Human Trafficking statement26 in December 2023, setting out our continuing commitment to tackling slavery and human trafficking in any form. The statement highlights how procurement, fair work, recruitment, and trade policy all play their part in mitigating the risk of slavery and human trafficking within supply chains associated with the Scottish Government. The statement also highlights sectors from which the Scottish Government procures where, globally, concerns have been previously reported. It discusses the steps taken in response to the risks associated within these sectors. The approach to public procurement remains a key tool in preventing human trafficking and exploitation. The Scottish Government published an updated Procurement Policy Handbook27 in May 2024 which provides guidance on the rules and policies relevant to public procurement activity in Scotland. It is applicable to all Scottish public bodies and includes a refreshed section on human rights.

Through our Fair Work First policy, we are encouraging use of Fair Work First criteria in as many public contracts as we can. We published updated practical guidance28 for procurers in March 2024, and launched Fair Work First in Procurement eLearning in December 2024, to support public sector buyers in implementing Fair Work First through procurement. References to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015 are included, and we signpost to our guidance29 on human rights including human trafficking. We will continue to engage with public bodies across Scotland to encourage payment of at least the Real Living Wage and wider fair work practices in contracts. Our most recent report on Procurement Activity30 reflects the use of Fair Work First across the public sector. As part of our Fair Work First policy, we are leveraging employers’ commitment to fair work by applying Fair Work First criteria to public sector grants, other funding and contracts where it’s relevant and proportionate to do so. Since implementing more stringent grant conditionality (from 1 July 2023), requiring public sector grant recipients to pay at least the Real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective worker voice, Fair Work First was applied to over £2.6bn worth of public sector grants, between July 2023 and March 2024. The Scottish Government will evidence its continued efforts to tackle and mitigate exploitation in its supply chains in its updated statement, due to be published in summer 2025.

We continue to promote and support use of the national sustainable procurement tools platform to buyers across the public sector in Scotland. Over 165 Scottish public sector bodies had registered by October 2024, as well as other public and private organisations in other parts of the UK and further afield. These tools and guidance take account of procurements which may be affected by human rights considerations, in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles and include issues such as human trafficking, conflict minerals, and serious organised crime. For example, we published updated procurement guidance in August 2023 on Security and Crime31. It is part of a series of guides which support the tools to help public sector organisations embed sustainability into their procurement processes. This guidance recognises the links between human trafficking and serious organised crime and is aimed at helping to reduce the risk of serious organised crime in the performance of public contracts.

Key outcome: people at most risk get help to increase their resilience against trafficking

Ukraine

The illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent movement of those seeking refuge in safe countries was recognised by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)32 as creating a significant risk of vulnerability to human trafficking and exploitation. The Scottish Government and partners implemented a range of preventative measures to mitigate the circumstances which could have increased vulnerability to a range of harms, including human trafficking and exploitation.

As part of the wider UK response, the Scottish Government developed the Homes for Ukraine Super-Sponsor Scheme33, through which there have been over 21,000 arrivals. Within the overall Ukraine governance structures, the Scottish Government created a specific human trafficking working group on Ukraine to monitor, share good practice and support the assistance available through a trafficking lens. The Ukraine Safeguarding Strategy Group, co-chaired by Scottish Government and Police Scotland, continues to meet monthly with partners from third sector and local authorities, and covers concerns relating to trafficking and exploitation amid the wider backdrop of safeguarding, generally.

Ensuring the wellbeing and safety of those arriving from Ukraine is central to our response. We continue to work with UK Government, local authorities and third sector partners to implement and review systems for robust, professional assessment of hosting situations, to confidently support children and adults who have arrived from Ukraine. Safeguarding features prominently in arrangements for welcome accommodation, as well as plans to support displaced people to move on to longer-term arrangements, with a focus on protecting the most vulnerable. The Scottish Government has been working in collaboration with COSLA, local authorities and third sector partners and has developed specific guidance for practitioners who are involved in safeguarding vulnerable children and adults displaced from Ukraine due to the war. We have developed an approach to supporting displaced people from Ukraine that is mindful of their vulnerabilities, and that goes beyond the breadth of the UN Vulnerability Criteria.

Working alongside TARA, JRS developed information leaflets34 in Ukrainian, Russian and English to assist people arriving from Ukraine to understand their new situation, their rights in the UK and what to do if their situation raised concerns. SOHTIS also developed advice in Ukrainian which was hosted on their website and participated alongside TARA in the Scottish Government’s trafficking working group on Ukraine and were an active member of the wider Safeguarding Group.

Migration

In 2019 a pilot scheme was opened for migrant workers to come to the UK on the Seasonal Worker Visa (SWV) to work in horticulture. The visa means each worker is tied to a single labour provider (Scheme Operator). The Seasonal Worker Visa allows workers to come to the UK and work in edible and ornamental horticulture for a maximum period of 6 months in any 12-month period or in the poultry sector from 18 October to 31 December. In 2024 the UK Government committed to extend the seasonal workers visa route until 2029.

Previously, workers in the sector had tended to come from elsewhere in the EU through freedom of movement with employers directly recruiting workers. Many farms are now very reliant on the visa route for workers.

Both government and independent reviews highlight that the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme as currently designed puts workers at risk of exploitation and abuse. This includes risks at the point of recruitment, such as deception, illegal fees and high debts, and risks in the UK, encompassing violations of employment rights, unsafe accommodation, insufficient provision of work, issues around use of piece rates and productivity targets, barriers to transferring employer, and a lack of effective complaints and labour rights enforcement mechanisms.

Research commissioned by the Scottish Government35, conducted in 2022 and published in 2023, found that there were around 6,500 seasonal workers in Scotland in 2022. Of the 439 seasonal workers that responded to a survey about their experiences, the majority (87%) were satisfied with accommodation while 13% were dissatisfied with their accommodation. Satisfaction did not depend much upon the type of accommodation, although satisfaction with caravans on farms was 84%. The survey found that responsibility for arranging accommodation largely rests on employers. After missing family and friends and language barriers, the next most common challenge reported by workers was accommodation costs (reported by 15% of respondents).

The Scottish Government commissioned further research36 in response to the identification of safeguarding risks for workers on the UK Seasonal Worker Visa (SWV) in horticulture in Scotland (FLEX 202137). Specifically, the study sought to understand options for the Scottish Government to respond to the vulnerability created by temporary migration programmes. The report considers options for Scotland to establish protection mechanisms for workers in response to this vulnerability, drawing best practice from New Zealand and Canada.

The Scottish Government has funded the Worker Support Centre (WSC) since 2022 to provide free and confidential support to seasonal migrant workers so that more of them understand their workplace rights and how to exercise them. The WSC both supports individuals and provides evidence to highlight structural issues with the current Seasonal Worker Visa which increase the risk of exploitation and poor treatment of workers. The service also provides more general wraparound support on employment rights, welfare, finance, and other issues. It will also continue to look for indicators of forced labour and exploitation.

There are no other UK Government or Scottish Government interventions offering a similar bespoke service tailored to the needs of vulnerable migrant workers in this sector. The WSC is a strong example of using devolved competence to mitigate against the impacts of the current UK immigration system.

Child Poverty

During 2023-2024, families continued to be impacted by the ongoing cost of living crisis, with the Scottish Government’s fixed budget significantly impacted by the need to mitigate UK Government welfare policies, a hard Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis. Despite operating in one of the most challenging fiscal contexts since devolution, action on child poverty remained a key priority and we have continued to direct resources to those in greatest need and invest in key measures to tackle child poverty in line with the ambitious targets within the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 201738.

The annual progress report on child poverty for 2023-202439, published in June 2024, reflects the latest progress in implementing “Best Start, Bright Futures”40, our second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. The progress report outlined that 60 of the 108 actions reported on this year are either complete or delivering at scale – an increase on 20 from the same time last year. The report also presented estimates that, in 2023-2024, the Scottish Government invested almost £2.9 billion in funding to support low-income households, with spend directly benefitting children rising to nearly £1.4 billion.

Economic modelling41 published in February 2024 estimates that Scottish Government policies will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty in 2024-2025, with relative poverty levels 10 percentage points lower than they would have otherwise been in the absence of these measures. This includes keeping an estimated 60,000 children out of relative poverty through the Scottish Child Payment.

Across 2023-2024, despite the challenging fiscal position, we have continued to build on our progress to date and to strengthen the support offered to families. This includes:

• awarding almost £430 million to families through the Scottish Child Payment, supporting more than 329,000 children as of 31 March 2024
• widening eligibility for Best Start Foods, the benefit which helps low-income families access nutritious food, so thousands more children and pregnant women can benefit
• supporting around 4,400 children through continued work to develop a system of school age childcare and continuing to provide 1,140 hours of funded childcare for all eligible children
• providing free bus travel to over 2.3 million people, with 727,000 children and young people registered as of March 2024
• delivering 6,045 affordable homes across Scotland, with two thirds for social rent, between April and December 2023 – helping an estimated 2,015 households with children into affordable housing
• following his appointment in May 2024, the First Minister confirmed eradicating child poverty as the single most important policy objective for the government he leads. In 2024-2025 the Scottish Government will continue to drive forward action to eradicate child poverty. Scottish Ministers will continue to report annually on progress made in relation to both the targets set and delivery of actions committed to.

Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants

Scotland’s New Scots refugee integration strategy has provided a framework to support refugees, people seeking asylum and communities for the last decade. New Scots has been developed and delivered in partnership by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council, as well as involving a wide range of partners across different sectors. The key principle of the New Scots approach is to support integration from day one of arrival.

In 2020 the New Scots partnership secured EU funding to enhance the implementation of the second New Scots refugee integration strategy. The New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project was led by the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Refugee Council and the UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages, Education and the Arts at the University of Glasgow. The project enabled us to award £2.8 million in funding to over 50 projects across Scotland to spread good practice and support innovation in refugee integration (these ran from September 2021 to November 2022); to provide over £500,000 in targeted funding for two of the highest priority areas: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and Employability (between May and November 2023); to invest in research and evaluation to inform the development of the next New Scots refugee integration strategy, ensuring it is firmly rooted in evidence; and to fund wide-scale public engagement across Scotland for the third New Scots refugee integration strategy. This funding ended in December 2023.

The third New Scots refugee integration strategy42 was published in March 2024. It was informed by an engagement process involving over 2,000 refugees and people seeking asylum. The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: Delivery Plan 2024-202643 was published in July 2024. This contains the actions that New Scots partners will be undertaking to deliver the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The Delivery Plan will be reviewed annually to reflect changing context, new actions required and progress. The first review will be undertaken in summer 2025.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government and COSLA published Ending Destitution Together44, a joint strategy to improve support for people subject to No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) living in Scotland. NRPF is a highly complex area. An NRPF condition can apply to anyone who is in the UK on a visa, who has applied for asylum or protection, who is an adult dependent relative of a British citizen or person with settled status, or who doesn’t have permission to remain in the UK. Some people who are subject to NRPF can be vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.

The strategy is delivered in partnership with the third sector, public services and local authorities. Now in its third year of delivery, the strategy continues to build on work to support trafficking victims and to prevent anyone who is subject to NRPF being pushed into destitution, as well as supporting people to find routes out of destitution. The strategy also funds the development of Migrants’ Rights and Entitlements Guidance45 and legal support and case work via the International Organisation of Migration to enable those with the NRPF condition to maximise access to support and assistance and where permissible have the NRPF condition reviewed.

Two key projects are taking forward action to support the essential needs of people with NRPF, who are at risk of destitution. The Scottish Crisis Fund project, delivered by the British Red Cross, issues emergency payments to people facing destitution and is inclusive of people with NRPF. It also assists in developing pathways out of destitution by supporting partners working with people in vulnerable positions.

The Scottish Refugee Council and Fair Way Scotland are delivering a project through a national helpline to provide diagnostic legal advice and advocacy support for people subject to NRPF. Through the project, people are supported to identify causes of destitution and through advocacy and legal advice, are helped to take routes out of destitution.

Homelessness

Scotland has the strongest rights for homeless households in the UK and we are taking important steps towards strengthening rights for tenants and preventing homelessness. We continue to implement our Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan and are providing a total of £100m funding from our Ending Homelessness Together Fund to transform the homelessness system. We are also providing local authorities with £30.5m for their work to prevent and respond to homelessness.

We remain committed to ending rough sleeping and maintaining the eradication of night shelter and dormitory style emergency accommodation provision in Scotland. Since 2020 we have provided over £904,000 of funding to support the operation of Rapid Rehousing Centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh which are available to everyone and provide 24/7 immediate access to hotel room accommodation alongside wraparound multi-agency support. The success of this model means that there has been no return to night shelter provision in Scotland, unlike in other parts of the UK.

In 2022-2023 we also provided over £43,000 of funding to third sector frontline organisations for personalised budgets so that frontline staff could meet the immediate needs of people experiencing homelessness or rough sleeping. The Ending Homelessness Together annual reports for 202246, 202347 and 202448 provide further information.

Violence against women and girls

The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling violence against women and girls and this work continues through the framework of the Equally Safe Strategy. Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls, is ambitious and encourages us all to be bold in prioritising actions which will eliminate systemic gender inequality that lies at the root of violence against women and girls. Equally Safe recognises commercial sexual exploitation, such as prostitution and human trafficking as forms of gendered violence.

Female victims of trafficking are disproportionately likely to be exploited for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and we are committed to challenging the systemic inequality which drives this form of violence against women.

In December 2023 Equally Safe was refreshed. The refresh enables us to adapt to changes in the social and legislative landscape without altering the strategy’s valued aims and objectives. Scotland’s Justice Vision also aims to ensure that women and girls live free from all forms of violence and abuse, as well as the attitudes that perpetuate it.

In 2024 the Scottish Government published a Strategic Approach to challenging demand for prostitution49, which sets out the Scottish Government’s collective approach, working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector, to challenge and deter men’s demand for prostitution and support those with experience of it. The strategy is underpinned by policy principles50 to inform relevant policy and practice across Government and the wider public and third sector. Our strategic approach recognises the links to wider forms of Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and our work to tackle violence against women and girls more broadly.

While we will continue work with partners to develop a wider improved support pathway, we are now able to make progress with an initial phase of this work. Collaborating with Police Scotland, we will look to challenge demand and improve support for women with experience of commercial sexual exploitation. A package of work to support this includes:

• a secondment from the Scottish Government’s Violence against Women and Girls team (commenced December 2024) to support the development of a national and strategic approach to policing across Scotland that recognises women involved in prostitution as victims and which will look to signpost them to service provision which would enable a sustainable exit from prostitution, with the approach also aiming to improve access to Justice for women with experience of CSE
• supporting the further development of Operation Begonia (already operational in Aberdeen) to lead to a national and consistent policing approach. The Operation Begonia approach takes a trauma-informed response, and routes women to support and challenges and deters men’s demand
• funding Police Scotland to gather intelligence to understand the full extent of demand for commercial sexual exploitation across Scotland (including online), helping to better reach victims and strengthen the response to tackling perpetrators.

Our work with Police Scotland will also consider the future training needs for Police Scotland.

This is a key stage in implementing our Strategic Approach, ensuring that we increase the opportunities for women to access support whilst at the same time ever limiting the opportunities for those carrying out exploitation. This developing network between Justice and wider mainstream and specialist services will aim to pave the way for the development of a wider support pathway for women with experience of CSE.

Lessons learned from the implementation of our strategic approach will help inform any future discussions on possible legislation, including whether to criminalise the purchase of sex. Ensuring the strategy is embedded will help provide the foundations for this.

The Scottish Government provide funding through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund for a range of services aimed to address commercial sexual exploitation and to support women who have experienced it. This includes support for the CSE Aware project, which offers training and resources across the wider public and third sector. In March 2024 CSE Aware launched a Scottish Government funded animation (“Building Bridges”)51 which aims to support practitioner conversations when CSE is disclosed.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. As part of this, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action. Scotland’s National Performance Framework (NPF) integrates the 17 SDGs alongside the National Outcomes and is an important part of Scotland’s localisation of the SDG agenda. The NPF provides a platform for collaboration based on delivering the National Outcomes and the SDGs. Action is required on both the Outcomes and SDGs simultaneously.

The National Outcomes are reviewed every five years, and the latest review is underway. We heard from stakeholders that alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be improved. This has been addressed in the proposed revised framework in several ways. These include ensuring that SDG 5: Gender Equality is now more effectively represented in the National Outcomes through the addition of the Care National Outcome, as well as explicit reference to gender equality and gender-based violence in the extended definitions. The addition of Equalities to the Human Rights Outcome echoes SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. Consideration will be given, during development of the National Indicators, to the consultation evidence received that suggested how to better align with the SDG indicator set.