The APPG on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, with cross-party membership of MPs and Peers, meets to provide a forum for discussion as to the nature and scale of modern slavery in the UK. The Group played a major role in pushing for and shaping the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and now seeks to ensure that the Act is effectively implemented. It meets regularly to discuss issues relating to the protection and support of victims and prosecution and convictions of traffickers.
After the General Election in 2019, the House of Commons returned to business in early January 2020. The inaugural meeting of the re-formed APPG took place on the 27th January 2020. This resulted in Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP and Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss (one of the co-founding members) being elected as Co-chairs.
The Human Trafficking Foundation provides the secretariat to the APPG, and the Foundation's Chairman, Anthony Steen was elected Special Adviser to the group. For more information contact robyn@humantraffickingfoundation.org.
APPG Officers
Chairs:
Dame Karen Bradley MP – Co-Chair
Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss – Co-Chair
Vice Chairs:
Alex Norris MP
Lord Randall of Uxbridge
Specialist Advisor:
Anthony Steen
Secretariat:
Human Trafficking Foundation
Upcoming Meetings
There are currently no upcoming meetings with the APPG.
Recent Meetings
The co-chairs of the recently elected group meet fortnightly, together with their Special Adviser. The meetings are not minuted. The discussions focus on ‘House issues’ that come up from the grassroots and from the Human Trafficking Foundation, amongst others. Strategy is discussed and decisions taken as to Parliamentary activity. The co-chairs are often joined by the officers and other Parliamentarians, in both Houses. Below are synopses of some of the recent meetings.
Tuesday 19th March 2024
AGM meeting (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 23rd May 2023
Panel event to assess the impact of the Nationality and Borders Act on trafficked British and Foreign-National children (Download the minutes here).
Wednesday 22nd March 2023
AGM meeting (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 28th Februray 2023
Co-Chairs meeting with Jaselle WIliams, Tonys Chocolonely (Download the meeting summary here).
Tuesday 24th May 2022
Panel event to investigate the role of local government licensing in mitigating the risks of trafficking in high-risk sectors predisposed to fraudulent practices and exploitation such as hand car washes and nail bars (Download the meeting minutes here).
Tuesday 26th April 2022
Discussion between the Co-Chairs of the APPG and Eliza Galos Head of Protection Ukraine at IOM. (Download the meeting summary here.)
Tuesday 8th March 2022, online
AGM meeting (Download the meeting summary here)
Thursday 3rd November 2021, 4pm, online
Roundtable discussion with leading anti-trafficking NGOs and parliamentarians on the impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill. (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 25th May 2021, 10.30am, online
Panel discussion open to all parliamentarians to investigate whether national borders are more secure or more porous since Brexit with the HTF report as the basis for debate (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 24th February 2021, 11am, online
AGM meeting (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 26th January 2021, 1.30pm, online
Panel discussion open to all parliamentarians to discuss addressing exploitation in supply chains (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 17th November 2020, 1.30pm, online
General meeting for parliamentarians to consider the current legislation on supply chains (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 14th October 2020, 1.30pm, online
Panel discussion on child exploitation at the Channel ports (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 21st July 2020, 1.30pm, online
Meeting with the Police and Crimes Commissioner for West Yorkshire and Chair of the National Anti-Trafficking and Modern Slavery Network (Download the meeting summary here)
Thursday 18th June 2020, 1.30pm, online
Meeting with Minister for Safeguarding (Download the meeting summary here)
Tuesday 16th June 2020, 1.30pm, online
Meeting with National Police Lead for Modern Slavery (Download the meeting summary here)
Previous meetings
Monday 27th January 2020, 5pm, Room W2
Inaugural meeting and election of officers
Tuesday 16th July, 5pm, Room U
Briefing and moving forward, led by Co-Chairs
Tuesday 27th November, 3pm, Room W2
AGM and meeting with Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer
Wednesday 17th October 2018, 5pm
Joint meeting with APPG for Agriculture and Food for Development
Monday 9th July 2018, 5pm, Committee Room 2
Joint meeting with the APPG on Street Children
Wednesday 4th July 2018, 1.15pm Committee Room 2A
Meeting with Victoria Atkins MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability
Tuesday 5th June 2018, 11.30am, Committee Room 1
Meeting with Local Government Association
Tuesday 12 September 2017, 5pm, Portcullis House Room M
AGM - Election of Officers
Wednesday 22 February 2017, 5pm, House of Lords Committee Room 3A
Meeting with Director of Public Prosecutions and Peter Carter QC
Tuesday 17 January 2017, 5pm, House of Lords Committee Room 3
Meeting with Kings College London and the Helen Bamber Foundation
Tuesday 15 November 2016, 6pm, House of Lords Committee Room 3
Meeting with Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and Caroline Haughey
Wednesday 13 July 2016, 5.30pm, House of Lords Committee Room 3
AGM followed by roundtable discussion of transparency and supply chains under the Modern Slavery Act.
Monday 14 March 2016, 5pm, House of Lords Committee Room 1
Meeting with Professor Ravi Kohli, Univeristy of Bedfordshire, and Philip Segurola, Director of Specialist Children's Services Kent County Council
Tuesday 1 December 2015, 6.15pm, House of Lords Committee Room 2
Meeting with Paul Broadbent, CEO of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority
Additional Info, December 2015
Monday 2 November 2015, 6pm, House of Lords Committee Room 4
Meeting with the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland
Monday 26 October 2015, 2pm, Portcullis House
Meeting with the delegation from GRETA (the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings)
Closed meeting - only MPs and Peers may attend
Tuesday 30 June 2015
AGM
Statements and Reports
Inquiry into the impact of Covid-19
The Human Trafficking Foundation on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group invited input from UK organisations around the impact of Covid-19 and related measures on victims, survivors, and services. The Foundation coordinated responses, which were shared with the APPG Chair, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, and Co-Chair Baroness Butler-Sloss. Final recommendations were shared with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and the Minister responsible for modern slavery, Victoria Atkins MP. Full submissions are available on the linked page.
ORgan Harvesting in china
The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery was concerned to read The China Tribunal’s report, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC (who formerly served as lead prosecutor of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) which suggests that there is significant evidence that state- sanctioned organ trafficking is taking place. Read the full statement here
Romania
We are pleased to endorse the 2018 report on activities of the Romanian parliamentary group, Chaired by Dr Angel Tilvar MP. It is the best example of good parliamentary practice, resulting in greater public awareness as well as focusing attention on the activities of both the public and private sectors fighting human trafficking. We commend this initiative to other European parliamentary groups and believe this is something we should also consider doing in our own countries in the future.
Read the report here
Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP
Baroness Butler-Sloss
Joint Chairs of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery