The Bishop of Bristol received the following written answers on 7th May 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Bristol asked His Majesty’s Government whether their forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy will consider victims of sexual exploitation in the light of recent data from the International Organization for Migration showing that fewer women and girls are being supported through the National Referral Mechanism.
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab, Home Office): The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats and targeting prolific perpetrators. We are currently considering policy options on how we can best support those impacted by sexual exploitation, including in the context of our violence against women and girls strategy.
The Lord Bishop of Bristol asked His Majesty’s Government how the recruitment of more modern slavery case workers announced in October 2024 will improve National Referral Mechanism waiting times for conclusive grounds decisions for women, which, according to recent data from the International Organization for Migration, are 16 months longer than for men.
Lord Hanson of Flint: The Government inherited a system in which decision-making times were too long and that is why we made it a priority to reduce these via the recruitment of additional 200 decision makers. This will support all victims, and the backlog of cases has already reduced significantly,
NRM statistics are published and can be found here Modern slavery: NRM and DtN statistics, October to December 2024 – GOV.UK
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