UK Parliament modern slavery statement summary (2023)

Organisation address
Houses of Parliament,
London,
SW1A 0AA

We asked the organisation a series of questions about its modern slavery statement. Its answers are published on this page as a statement summary.

This statement provides information for all 6 recommended areas

What is a modern slavery statement?
UK law requires certain organisations to publish an annual modern slavery statement on their website, setting out the steps they are taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read more in the government guidance on publishing modern slavery statements.
Link to full statement
Go to full modern slavery statement on organisation’s website

PDF version of the statement

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About this statement summary

All answers relate to the financial year covered by the statement. The organisation is responsible for all the information it provided. Some of our questions are optional, so organisations may not have answered all of them. The statement summary does not replace the full modern slavery statement – below we provide a link to the full statement on the organisation’s website.

Contents

Organisations covered by the statement

UK Parliament modern slavery statement for 2023 is a group statement covering 4 organisations. See the full list of organisations covered by this statement

Statement period and sign-off details

The statement covers the following period:
1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023

The statement was signed off by:
John Benger (Clerk of the House of Commons)

It was approved by the board (or equivalent management body) on:
20 July 2023

Recommended areas covered by the statement

Government guidance encourages organisations to cover a range of areas in their modern slavery statements, setting out the steps they’re taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read about the recommended areas in the statutory guidance.

We asked the organisation to tell us which areas its statement covers.

Areas recommended by government guidance Organisation’s response
The organisation’s structure, business and supply chains Covered
Policies Covered
Risk assessment Covered
Due diligence (steps to address risk) Covered
Training about modern slavery Covered
Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the organisation's actions and progress over time Covered

The organisation’s sectors and turnover

Sectors

The organisation operates in the following sectors:

  • Public sector

Turnover

Its turnover in the financial accounting year of this statement was:

Over £500 million

If the organisation is a public body, this amount is based on the organisation’s budget for the year of the statement.
What does 'turnover' refer to in group statements?
If this is a group statement, this includes the total turnover for all the organisations covered by the statement.

Number of years producing statements

The organisation has been producing modern slavery statements for the following number of years:
1 to 5 years
How does this work for group statements?
If the statement is for a group of organisations, this answer applies to the organisation with the longest history of producing statements.

Policies (optional)

We asked the organisation whether its policies include the following provisions in relation to its domestic and international supply chains, as well as its own operations.
Policy provisions we asked about Organisation’s response
Freedom of workers to terminate employment Included
Freedom of movement Not included
Freedom of association Included
Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation Included
Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees Not included
Prohibits compulsory overtime Not included
Prohibits child labour Included
Prohibits discrimination Included
Prohibits confiscation of workers' original identification documents Not included
Provides access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery Included
Other
Not included

Training (optional)

We asked the organisation whether it provided training on modern slavery, and who it was for.
What counts as training?
We explained that by ‘training’ we meant anything designed to increase knowledge and skills around identifying, addressing or preventing modern slavery risks. This could range from formal training courses to broader awareness-raising activities such as workshops or webinars.
We asked who the training was for Organisation’s response
Your whole organisation No
Your front line staff No
Human resources No
Executive-level staff No
Procurement staff Yes
Your suppliers No
The wider community No
Other
We rolled out mandatory modern slavery training for all House of Commons and Parliamentary Digital Service (PDS) staff. This will be extended to all House of Lords staff in the next reporting period.

Monitoring working conditions (optional)

Engaging with others

We asked the organisation to tell us who it engaged with to help monitor working conditions across its operations and supply chains.
We asked who the organisation engaged with Organisation’s response
Your suppliers Yes
Trade unions or worker representative groups No
Civil society organisations Yes
Professional auditors Yes
Workers within your organisation Yes
Workers within your supply chain No
Central or local government Yes
Law enforcement, such as police, GLAA and other local labour market inspectorates Yes
Businesses in your industry or sector Yes

Social audits

We asked the organisation to tell us about any social audits it used to look for signs of modern slavery.
What are social audits?
A social audit is a review of an organisation’s working practices from the point of view of social responsibility, and should include an evaluation of working conditions in the organisation’s operations and supply chains. By their nature, audits of supplier workplaces represent a snapshot in time.
Social audits we asked about Organisation’s response
Audit conducted by your staff No
Third party audit arranged by your organisation No
Audit conducted by your supplier’s staff No
Third party audit arranged by your supplier Yes
Announced audit No
Unannounced audit No

Grievance mechanisms

We asked the organisation how workers in its operations or supply chains could raise concerns or make complaints.
We asked if workers could raise concerns this way Organisation’s response
Using anonymous whistleblowing services, such as a helpline or mobile phone app Yes
Through trade unions or other worker representative groups Yes

Other ways of monitoring working conditions

We asked the organisation whether it had any other ways of monitoring working conditions across its operations and supply chains:
Our risk assessment invites high risk suppliers to complete the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool. This scores suppliers on their modern slavery risk level and provides improvement recommendations.

Modern slavery risks (optional)

Warning Identifying modern slavery risks is a vital step towards eradicating it. The government encourages organisations to be as open and transparent as possible, to improve understanding, collaboration and best practice around tackling this worldwide problem.
We asked the organisation to describe up to 3 priority risks it focused on during the period of the statement, including details of the affected workers, the activity involved, and the location.

Priority risks for this organisation (1 of 3)

In the previous reporting year, we identified a new high-risk area in Parliament’s supply chain – Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your supply chains.
  • Tier 2 suppliers
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 1 suppliers.
  • Tier 3 suppliers and below
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 2 suppliers or the next higher level in the chain.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response:
  • Migrants
In which country Organisation’s response: Malaysia
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: Following our classification of PPE as a high-risk area in the previous reporting year, we have continued to carry out targeted risk mitigation work, including working closely with our Tier 1 PPE supplier. We have also developed a formal escalation and remediation procedure which will increase our ability to deal with potential future incidents in the supply chain.

Priority risks for this organisation (2 of 3)

Construction in London has been identified as one of our high-risk procurement areas.
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your supply chains.
  • Tier 1 suppliers
    Provide their products and services directly to your organisation.
  • Tier 2 suppliers
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 1 suppliers.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response:
  • Vulnerable individuals
In which country Organisation’s response: United Kingdom
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: At present we have mitigated risk in this area by mandating that all our Tier 1 suppliers commit to paying the London Living Wage for workers, as well as ensuring their staff all have a Right to Work. Contractual conditions such as these will go some way in establishing protective mechanisms against forced labour in our construction supply chain. We are also carrying out a targeted risk assessment of our construction suppliers.

Priority risks for this organisation (3 of 3)

We have classified electronics hardware as a high-risk procurement area for Parliament. This is due to worker violations that occurred in China, affecting global electronics supply chains.
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your supply chains.
  • Tier 2 suppliers
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 1 suppliers.
  • Tier 3 suppliers and below
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 2 suppliers or the next higher level in the chain.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response:
  • Vulnerable individuals
In which country Organisation’s response: China
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: We have initiated work to assess whether Parliament’s electronics supply chain has been affected by worker violations that affected global electronics supply chains and was widely reported in the press. We have engaged with some of our electronics suppliers to outline our concerns and to discuss collaborating more closely in this area moving forward. We have also started to engage with Electronics Watch and are investigating the possibility of affiliating with them in the future.

Indicators of forced labour (optional)

We asked the organisation whether its statement refers to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour.
What are ILO indicators of forced labour?
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has produced a list of the most common signs of forced labour. They’re based on the definition of forced labour as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.’ More details and guidance are available on the ILO website, and in their publication ILO indicators of forced labour
ILO indicators we asked about Organisation’s response
Abuse of vulnerability Yes
Deception No
Restriction of movement No
Isolation No
Physical and sexual violence No
Intimidation and threats No
Retention of identity documents No
Withholding of wages No
Debt bondage Yes
Abusive working and living conditions No
Excessive overtime No
Other
-

Actions taken in response to finding ILO indicators

We asked the organisation to tell us whether its statement refers to any actions it took after finding indicators of forced labour
Actions we asked about Organisation’s response
Financial remediation, including repayment of recruitment fees No
Change in policy Yes
Change in training No
Referring potential victims to government services No
Supporting victims via NGO No
Supporting investigations by relevant authorities No
Other
The incident occurred in the lower tiers of our supply chain. We have been assured the victims received appropriate remediation. We have developed an escalation and remediation process to enable us to quickly respond to any potential future incidents.

Demonstrating progress (optional)

We asked the organisation how its statement demonstrates progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks. They provided the following answer:
A KPI framework was developed in March 2022. The framework includes KPIs on risk assessments, commercial staff training, all-staff training and supplier communication. Since the previous reporting period, we have made notable progress in most of these areas. We have also developed an additional KPI on our suppliers’ compliance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.