To consider the Motion on Notice received from Councillor Cresswell:
That Babergh district council signs up to the Co-operative Party’s Charter Against Modern Slavery.
By signing the Charter, Babergh district council will:
1. Train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply.
2. Require its contractors to comply fully with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, wherever it applies, with contract termination as a potential sanction for non-compliance.
3. Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery.
4. Highlight to its suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one.
5. Publicise its whistle-blowing system for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.
6. Require its tendered contractors to adopt a whistle-blowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.
7. Review its contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery.
8. Highlight for its suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed.
9. Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any of its contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery.
10. Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually.
Proposer: Cllr Luke Cresswell
Seconder: Cllr Tony Bavington
Minutes:
57.1 On the proposal of Councillor Cresswell and seconded by Councillor Bavington the following motion was MOVED:-
That Babergh District Council signs up to the Co-operative Party’s Charter against Modern Slavery.
By signing the Charter, Babergh district council will:
1. Train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply.
2. Require its contractors to comply fully with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, wherever it applies, with contract termination as a potential sanction for non-compliance.
3. Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery.
4. Highlight to its suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one.
5. Publicise its whistle-blowing system for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.
6. Require its tendered contractors to adopt a whistle-blowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery.
7. Review its contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery.
8. Highlight for its suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed.
9. Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any of its contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery.
10. Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually.
57.2 In his introductory speech Councillor Cresswell said that many councillors would be aware from the news of some of the reports on modern slavery. In Suffolk there were 16 cases last year. 8 were for minors and 8 for adults. Last year across the country it was estimated that 136,000 people were victims of modern slavery and what this charter does is a measure that responsible business would welcome because it ensures that if there is any abnormal low attendance for example, they may be exploiting people, vulnerable people. Theresa May was the home secretary when the modern slavery act was passed. Which was and still is a ground-breaking piece of legislation. This Charter which compliments that Act will fill in some of the gaps, for example there is one bit in the Charter which calls on the government to extend support for victims in England to 100 days, and at the moment that is only in Wales and Scotland. That has gone through the Private Members Bill currently going through parliament by Lord McColl. The Charter ensures that there is nowhere to hide for modern slavery in our supply chains, so as councils collectively we spend more than £40 billion a year procuring goods and services on the public’s behalf. This Charter is robust, simple to implement and it is developed using local government procurement experts and the co-operative group. It is low cost the only direct cost is the training for procurement officers which is an online training module which costs around £38 + VAT. The Charter is entirely legal, well within EU procurement regulations and domestic procurement law. Finally by signing this Charter it may only stop directly a few people in Babergh from being exploited but if it stops one person then clearly then that is an achievement. But by what signing this Charter does and if other council’s will also be signing this, at the moment it is around 45 councils that have signed it. About 20 of those over the last 2-3 weeks. But if we do that collectively than as a bigger picture it will make such a big impact. Councillor Cresswell hoped members would support the motion.
57.3 The Monitoring Officer advised Council that this Motion would normally be referred to Cabinet without debate as this was a Cabinet function. However, in this instance as it was a new policy for the Council a full council debate would be appropriate.
57.4 On the proposal of Councillor Ward and seconded by Councillor Ridley an amendment to the Motion was tabled.
57.5 Speaking on his amendment Councillor Ward said that he deplored that slavery of various forms existed in this country and elsewhere. He said that the Council must do all it could and use all appropriate legislation to help stamp it out. The Council would look at its procurement processes to see where they can be strengthened to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Although the legislation doesn’t specifically require local authorities to comply many are doing so and this Council should be among them. Whilst not explicitly committing to implementing the Charter both east and west Suffolk had already published statements describing the steps they were taking to ensure that there was no slavery in their own activities and supply chains. Ipswich Borough Council had implemented the Charter also the Local Government Association had a very good guide to how to address modern slavery. The Council needed its own policy as soon as possible but would need to incorporate the requirements for both councils’ as otherwise they would be running different processes. The proposals for how Babergh would respond to the Charter will be debated and decided by Cabinet in November. The Leader had spoken to the leader of Mid Suffolk and he was in agreement with this. In conjunction with this, in accordance with section 54 of the 2015 Act, The Council would publish a statement on its website. So, on the basis of the Monitoring Officer’s advice he therefore proposed an alteration to the motion this evening namely “that Council recommends to Cabinet that a policy on modern slavery be drafted and approved.”
57.6 The Chairman asked Councillor Cresswell if he accepted the amendment.
57.7 Councillor Cresswell accepted the amendment.
57.8 This was PUT to the meeting and CARRIED.
It was Resolved:-
That Council recommends to Cabinet that a policy on modern slavery be drafted and approved.