FOI 384-2023 / April 23 / Modern slavery & human trafficking
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 384-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 10th April as follows:
Please provide the number of cases of modern slavery and human trafficking reported to the force between January 1st 2022 and December 31st 2022. Please disaggregate data according to the following information:
The crime outcome of the offences (for example, this includes but is not limited to outcomes such as 'cautioned', 'charged/summonsed', Evidential difficulties (victim does not support investigation), no suspect identified, 'Not in public interest (police), Not in public interest (CPS)' and any other outcomes recorded),
The age of victims recorded, either adult (18 years or older) or child (17 years old or younger).
Please note that for the purposes of this request, 'victim' is a person who has reported having been a victim of this crime.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: When reviewing the below information, please be advised that a search was carried out for all offences, classified under the Home Office classification code 106 - Modern Slavery, that were recorded between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2022. This refers to the following offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015:
- 36/06 – Hold person in slavery or servitude.
- 36/07 – Require person to perform forced or compulsory labour.
- 36/08 – Arrange or Facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
- 36/10 – Commit offence other than kidnapping or false imprisonment with intention of arranging travel with view to exploitation.
- 36/11 – Commit offences of kidnapping or false imprisonment with intention of arranging travel with a view to exploitation.
- 36/12 – Do act prohibited by slavery and trafficking risk or prevention order.
- 36/13 – Fail to comply with requirement to surrender passport.
- 36/14 – Fail to comply with requirement to provide name and address.
The resulting crimes were then filtered by outcome and victim age (child has been determined as aged 17 and under, adult as 18 and over). Please note that a victim has not always been identified, and therefore the number of victims is less than the number of crimes.
|
Modern Slavery / Human Trafficking Offences (2022) |
|
|
By Outcome Type |
Total |
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
25 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
8 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
6 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
28 |
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
5 |
|
Not filed/ongoing |
17 |
|
Grand Total |
89 |
|
Victim age |
Total |
|
Adult |
35 |
|
Child |
50 |
|
Grand total |
85 |
In addition, Warwickshire Police can neither confirm nor deny that it holds any other information with regard to an exempt body as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 23(5) Information supplied by, or concerning, certain Security Bodies
Section 23 is a class based absolute exemption and there is no requirement to consider the public interest in this case.
Confirming or denying the existence of whether any other information is held would contravene the constrictions laid out within Section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in that this stipulates a generic bar on disclosure of any information applied by, or concerning, certain Security Bodies.
No inference can be taken from this refusal that any further information does or does not exist.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB