Agenda item

A notice of motion, under Appendix 7 – paragraph 12 other than those listed in Appendix 7 – paragraph 10 of the Constitution must reach the Chief Executive at least ten clear days before the relevant Meeting of the Council.

Modern Slavery

The following Motion was received, proposed by Councillor Stubbs and seconded by Councillor Kearon:

This council notes 

Though slavery was abolished in the UK in 1833, there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. Figures from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggest that there are more than 40 million people in modern slavery across the world, with nearly 25 million held in forced labour. 

There were 3805 victims of modern slavery identified in the UK in 2016. A rising number but still well below the 10,000 and 13,000 potential victims estimated by the Home Office. 

Modern Slavery is happening nationwide. Traffickers and slave masters use whatever means they have at their disposal to coerce, deceive and force individuals into a life of abuse, servitude and inhumane treatment. This can include sexual and criminal exploitation. 

This council believes 

That action needs to be taken to raise awareness of modern slavery and the fact that it is happening all over the UK. 

That the current support for victims is not sufficient and needs to go beyond the 45 days they are currently given by the government. 

That councils have an important role to play in ensuring their contracts and supplies don’t contribute to modern day slavery and exploitation. 

This council resolves 

To adopt the Co-operative Party’s Charter against Modern Slavery to ensure our procurement practices don’t support slavery.

Charter

Newcastle under Lyme Council will: 

1.            Train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through the

Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply. 

2.            Require its contractors to comply fully with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, wherever

 it applies, with contract termination as a potential sanction for non-compliance. 

3.            Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the

potential contractor practising modern slavery. 

4.         Highlight to its suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one. 

5.         Publicise its whistle-blowing system for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery. 

6.         Require its tendered contractors to adopt a whistle-blowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery. 

7.         Review its contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery. 

8.         Highlight for its suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed. 

9.         Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any of its contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery. 

10.       Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually.

Subsequently an amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor Holland and seconded by Councillor Jill Waring :

Council resolves:

(i)            To subscribe to Anti-Slavery International’s Anti-Slavery Charter

(https://www.antislavery.org/anti-slavery-charter/).

(ii)          To reaffirm the Council’s Modern Slavery Statement, adopted under the Modern Slavery Act 2015,s54, in May and approved by the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Wellbeing.

(iii)         To require the Portfolio Holder to place before the relevant scrutiny committee a report on the implementation and operation of the Modern Slavery Statement, so that the Council’s policy and processes can be properly reviewed and recommendations received.  This must be done prior to May, 2019.

Members debated the motion and the amendment to the motion.  A vote was taken on the amendment:

For : 21

Against: 21

The Mayor’s casting vote was in favour of the amendment.

The amendment then became the substantive motion on which a vote was taken.

Resolved:  That the motion be carried.