UK Government modern slavery statement summary (2020)

Organisation address
2 Marsham Street,
London,
United Kingdom,
SW1P 4DF

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 5 of 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 (optional)

There is no PDF version of this statement.

PDF statements were first introduced to the registry for the 2023 statement year.

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 Government modern slavery statement for 2020 is a group statement covering 23 organisations. See the full list of organisations covered by this statement

Statement period and sign-off details

The statement covers the following period:
1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019

The statement was signed off by:
John Manzoni (Chief Executive of the Civil Service)

It was approved by the board (or equivalent management body) on:
18 March 2020

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:
This is the first time
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 Included
Freedom of association Included
Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation Included
Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees Included
Prohibits compulsory overtime Included
Prohibits child labour Included
Prohibits discrimination Included
Prohibits confiscation of workers' original identification documents 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 Yes
Human resources No
Executive-level staff No
Procurement staff Yes
Your suppliers Yes
The wider community Yes
Other
Policy makers in UK government and international governments.

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 Yes
Civil society organisations Yes
Professional auditors Yes
Workers within your organisation Yes
Workers within your supply chain Yes
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 Yes
Audit conducted by your supplier’s staff Yes
Third party audit arranged by your supplier Yes
Announced audit Yes
Unannounced audit Yes

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:
See section 3 in statement for details on how HMG is monitoring labour conditions through the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool and additional steps taken in sectors such as electronics and construction.

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)

Sourcing of key ICT commodities (such as cobalt from DRC) and ICT component manufacturing/assembly in a number of countries, such as (but not exclusively) China and Malaysia.
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
  • Children
In which country Organisation’s response:
  • Congo (Democratic Republic)
  • China
  • Malaysia
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: Increasing visibility of our ICT supply chains. CCS is mapping (to factory level) purchases of the top 200 products covering 58 manufacturers. Working with Electronics Watch to conduct and share worker-driven factory-level audits and remediate issues identified. Participating in several multi-stakeholder initiatives to improve transparency and governance in the mining sector in DRC. Strengthening requirements of ICT suppliers and supporting suppliers to strengthen their due diligence.

Priority risks for this organisation (2 of 3)

Construction workers in the UK are known to be vulnerable to exploitation, due to the sector’s reliance on temporary low skilled migrant labour, fragmented supply chains and low-cost tendering.
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: United Kingdom
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: Improving our purchasing practices to reduce structural problems in the industry that increase the risk of exploitation, through the Project Bank Accounts. Working with industry to improve standards and share intelligence with government, through the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority’s Construction Protocol. Piloting new ways to identify modern slavery in UK construction projects. HMRC is piloting a programme. Require all timber and wood-derived products be from sustainable sources.

Priority risks for this organisation (3 of 3)

Service staff working on Government sites and in our supply chains. The business model for service providers and nature of work mean that there is an increased risk of exploitation.
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: No details provided
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response: No details provided
In which country Organisation’s response: No details provided
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: Running a pilot to embed modern slavery considerations at each stage of the commercial life‑cycle. The pilot is taking place in CCS’ Vehicle Hire framework, which includes vulnerable workers in hand car wash services to support the delivery of contracts under this framework. Supporting facilities management suppliers to strengthen their due diligence. All of government’s strategic suppliers, including several facilities management suppliers, completed the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool.

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 No
Deception No
Restriction of movement No
Isolation No
Physical and sexual violence No
Intimidation and threats No
Retention of identity documents Yes
Withholding of wages No
Debt bondage Yes
Abusive working and living conditions No
Excessive overtime Yes
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 Yes
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 statement does not refer to actions undertaken solely in response to finding indicators but many of these measures are referred to in the statement and in material that has been hyperlinked to in the statement, such as the Modern Slavery Annual Report.

Demonstrating progress (optional)

We asked the organisation how its statement demonstrates progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks. They provided the following answer:
As this will be the only cross-government statement (individual ministerial departments will begin publishing individual statements in 2021), we haven’t established year-on-year performance indicators. Ministerial departments will develop their own KPIs based on the Cabinet Office guidance. We have set 13 goals for financial year 2020/21 which can be found in the statement. We will report against these goals in a progress update in September 2021.