Our joint response to the Government’s consultation on the transparency in supply chains (TISC) provision of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 argues the TISC provision has fallen far short of its objective to secure greater corporate transparency on modern slavery.
- We outline our recommendations to the Government:
to introduce mandatory criteria for company reporting, to facilitate scrutiny of company statements through the introduction of an effective Government-run registry - to introduce meaningful sanctions for failures to comply with the requirements of the TISC provision
- to extend the reporting requirement to the public sector.
We urge the Government to compile and publish a list of companies that fall within the scope of the Act, in order to facilitate enforcement and scrutiny by consumers, civil society and investors.
While we welcome Government action to strengthen the TISC clause, the Government must now go beyond reporting requirements in order to remain a leader on ensuring responsible business conduct. To remain in the top tier, the Government should consider introducing a legal requirement for companies to conduct human rights due diligence, in order to ensure they identify and prevent actual or potential negative impacts that their operations, products, services, investments and supply chains may have on individuals and communities.
Secondly, the Government should also implement a more comprehensive policy approach to tackling human rights and labour rights abuses, including improved labour market inspection and enforcement.
