Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the UK became the first country to require organisations to publicly report on the steps they are taking to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
Since the introduction of this legislation, the Government has indicated its support for most of the 80 recommendations set out in the Final Report of the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, providing a clear signal of its desire to future-proof its approach on how we tackle modern slavery and enhance the impact of transparency in reporting.
To support this effort in the recent Public Consultation of the Home Office on Transparency in Supply Chains, IEMA engaged 40 IEMA members in their capacity as professionals working in supply chain transparency to help contribute to its response. The response was submitted on 16th September. A summary of the key points made by IEMA were that:
- Mandating the areas that statements must cover would encourage organisations to take effective action;
- All 6 areas for reporting highlighted in the Home Office guidance are important and should be made mandatory;
- The need for guidance on how to prepare statements and how to interpret them is the most important feature that should be included in a central registry;
- A single reporting date should not be necessary provided companies are held to the same standard of reporting as under the Companies Act 2006, and that modern slavery statements are housed under a central register under Companies House;
- If reporting requirements are extended to the public sector then a civil penalty should also apply to public sector organisations;
- The requirement to publish a modern slavery statement should be extended to large public sector organisations that are not currently captured by the legislation;
- Public sector modern slavery statements should be approved by the most senior managing body and signed off by the accounting officer, Chief Executive or equivalent role.
To read the full consultation response please CLICK HERE or register for our webinar as part of Modern Slavery Day in October- CLICK HERE
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Posted on 7th October 2019
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