Issue - meetings

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1. Note the progress made to date.

2. Approve the Modern Slavery Transparency Statement 2025/26 and its publication on the Council’s website.

Consideration was given to the report which provided the annual update in relation to activities of the Council and its partners in seeking to both address and prevent modern slavery. The refreshed draft Modern Slavery Transparency Statement 2025/26, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, was also presented for consideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 134

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1. Note the progress made to date.

2. Approve the Modern Slavery Transparency Statement 2025/26 and its publication on the Council’s website.

At the Chair’s invitation the Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene introduced the report highlighting that the Co-operative Party’s Charter against Modern Slavery was adopted by the Council on 25 July 2018. This was the seventh year of delivery against that Charter. The Charter set out standards over and above any legal or statutory requirements, in terms of actions the Council would take to seek to address issues relating to modern slavery.

The charter focused on the procurement activity of the local authority ensuring that sufficient actions were taken to mitigate the risk of modern slavery through its supply chains.

A requirement of the charter was that the modern slavery transparency statement was republished yearly. This provided the latest national picture, in terms of the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism and how it compared to previous statements. There had been 126 local referrals to the national referral mechanism.

The Council took the opportunity to strengthen its approach to modern slavery each time a policy was reviewed or updated, for example the newly developed Child Exploitation Strategy included aspects around modern slavery.

Modern slavery was discussed, and awareness raised to over 450 general practitioners and health professional who attended an open learning event and members were engaged during Safeguarding Awareness Week. In addition, the team had worked across the rented sector, social landlords as well as private rented landlords through the licensing areas to raise awareness and how to spot the signs of modern slavery and understand how to refer people on for support.

The Council continued to work with South Yorkshire Police who had a specific modern slavery and organised crime unit. In particular to enhance reporting pathways and further encourage partners, council officers and community members to provide intelligence and information that could identify modern slavery and address it.

It was noted at an additional section had been included in the safeguarding children’s partnership manual, specifically at children from abroad, those that may be victims of modern slavery, trafficking and exploitation.

The Council continued to operate a number of single points of contact across the organisation, within different directorates. Eight officers had been trained and provided with additional information in order to support colleagues to continues to raise awareness within their directorates in relation to modern slavery.

The Chair invited members of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) to raise questions and queries on the points raised earlier. Councillor Yasseen welcomed the policy and noted that training was being delivered. How the Council was working with the police to dismantle the root causes of modern slavery was queried along with asking if the policy was helping to contribute to that? The Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene indicated this was an excellent example of where members established a policy and the policy drove the activity both within the Council and across the partnership, more widely. The report highlighted the unit that sat within South Yorkshire Police, which worked across the regional footprint. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96