This is Derbyshire Constabulary’s first Modern Slavery Statement.

This statement is made in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and describes the initial steps we have taken to prevent acts of modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring in our operations, business and supply chain.

In completing this statement, we seek to raise awareness of this serious issue within our own business processes as well as with the community and our peers in policing.

The key areas that the force will focus on over the next reporting period will be:-

  • The development of an overarching modern slavery strategy and responsible sourcing programme
  • Increased collaboration with statutory stakeholders, the community and our suppliers in respect of business engagement and modern slavery “influence”
  • Continue training and carrying out other awareness-raising activities in high-risk sectors of operation
  • Create a cross-functional modern slavery working group to oversee the modern slavery program, implementation and development
  • Work within the policing sector to share best practices
  • Develop our modern slavery action plan and a qualitative performance framework
  • Develop more sophisticated key risk indicators for modern slavery as part
    of our ongoing organisation-wide risk management analysis

In developing this statement we are aware of the recent independent review of the Modern Slavery Act and make note of the following recommendations;

  • Section 54 should be extended to the public sector. Government departments should publish a [modern slavery] statement at the end of the financial year, approved by the Department’s board and signed by the Permanent Secretary as Accounting Officer
  • Local government, agencies and other public authorities should publish a statement if their annual budget exceeds £36 million
  • The Government should strengthen its public procurement processes to make sure that noncompliant companies in scope of Section 54 are not eligible for public contracts
  • The Crown Commercial Service should keep a database of public contractors and details of compliance checks and due diligence carried out by public authorities. The database should be easily accessible to public authorities for use during the procurement process
  • The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner should commission research into how consumer attitudes to modern slavery can be influenced. The aim of this should be for business, in partnership with civil society, to leverage purchasing power to eradicate modern slavery in supply chains. The research should feed into the Commissioner’s annual report, with recommendations for Government action as appropriate.

While we have made progress towards improving our ability as a force to identify victims of modern slavery, and pro-actively pursue organised crime gangs who are involved, we recognise that the next stage of our journey is to review our organisation internally.

We also seek to use our position in Derbyshire, along our supply chain and through our business engagement, to “influence” as many people and organisations as possible. The statement applies to Derbyshire Constabulary employees, agency workers and sub-contractors, including those who deliver services on behalf of the force.

The reporting period is up to and including the financial year ending March 2020, from when the reporting period will run annually from April 2020. In recognition of the fact that our policies, procedures and response to modern slavery are dynamic, it is our intention to publish updates every six months following cross-functional team meetings. In line with our principles of doing the right thing, making a difference and shaping the future, and our priority of “delivering an excellent public service” we wanted to understand the gaps in our response to modern slavery.

We commissioned an independent review of our modern slavery response by a modern slavery consultancy with policing and commercial experience. The information gathered has been used to populate this modern slavery statement and the action plan for continuous improvement. We recognise the developing opportunities created by the review of the Modern Slavery Act, changes in public procurement procedures and the responsibility the force has to protect all members of the community, including our own supply chain.

While police forces do not currently have to report under the Modern Slavery Act, as the lead force for the Regional Modern Slavery Strategic Group, chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Kem Mehmet, we wanted to lead the regional response.

This is the start of our journey and our objectives for completing this work are;

  • The protection of vulnerable people within and outside our organisation
  • Transparency of our supply chain
  • To use our position of “influence” within the county to encourage awareness and a pro-active approach with our statutory partners, business partners, their supply chains and the community
  • To place the same scrutiny on ourselves that our private sector suppliers have under Section 54 of the act
  • To develop and implement a modern slavery continuous improvement strategy and action plan
  • To comply with the Modern Slavery Act.

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