4. Will the Leader of the House make a statement on Welsh Government action to end modern slavery and trafficking in south-east Wales? OAQ52906

Thank you for that very important question. We are determined to make all parts of Wales hostile to slavery. We are working with police and crime commissioners and with our multi-agency partners to protect vulnerable people and put an end to this heinous crime.

Thank you. The Welsh Government's anti-slavery co-ordinator has stated that raising awareness of modern slavery is key to tackling the issue. What do the latest figures on the number of cases reported tell us about the scale of the problem and the awareness of members of the public in recognising slavery and also in more victims coming forward? As we know, modern slavery does increasingly exist in our society both hidden and in plain sight, sometimes in mundane establishments such as nail bars and car washes, but equally in agriculture, catering, hotel trades and caring professions, and, of course, prostitution.

Yes, indeed. The latest figures on the reported cases of slavery in Wales are telling us that we are now beginning to understand the true scale of this problem and that our multi-agency approach to gathering intelligence and raising awareness is, indeed, working. In Wales in 2017, there were 192 people identified as potential victims of slavery and referred into the national referral mechanism, which is operated by the National Crime Agency. But, just in the first six months of this year, 116 people have been referred into the national referral mechanism and there's no sign of a slowdown in this year-on-year increase in referrals. Of the 116 referrals this year in Wales, the highest number of referrals were UK nationals, and that was 42 women, men and children, and the other main sources were countries from all over the world, in fact. They included 46 women and 70 men; 65 were referred for adult exploitation and 51 for exploitation as a minor.

The Member made an excellent point about it being in plain sight, because a large number of these young people, in particular, have been caught up in the county lines crime, particularly teenage boys who are UK nationals, but we are also dealing with girls as young as two who have been rescued from sexual exploitation.

Currently, labour exploitation is, however, the main form of exploitation, followed by sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. From the reported cases, we know that often people are held in that kind of captivity in plain sight. A large number of people knew that they were there but hadn't recognised the symptoms. So, the Member's quite right to say that we can all play our part in tackling slavery by raising awareness of what the signs are, what to look out for and how to report that into the mechanisms.

Can I commend the work of the St Giles Trust, who presented yesterday to the all-party group on looked-after children about the county lines project that is running in co-operation with a project in Gwent? We heard really alarming evidence of how these drug rings use looked-after children, care leavers and, of course, lots of other vulnerable people, and it's really important that those trapped in this sort of criminal activity realise that if they come forward as victims of modern slavery or human trafficking, they'll be supported and it'll be the larger, vast crime of their imprisonment in some terrible way—and we've heard some of the examples that are used—by these gangs that the police will focus on and prosecute.

Yes, indeed, and we've done a lot of work. The Gwent police and crime commissioner, who's a well-known and regarded previous colleague of ours, has been very active, and members of the leadership group. And now, actually, all of the police forces of Wales have active groups in this area, but he was very much at the forefront of that and he funded a number of anti-slavery awareness-raising conferences, and he jointly hosted the event that my colleague Joyce Watson AM held at the Senedd, which was called 'making our collective commitment to eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking', which was attended by a number of Assembly Members, including David Melding. That was making that exact point, and I've also made that point to a number of UK Government Ministers when I've met with them. But what we have to be sure of is that we don't have any unintended consequences that prevent people from coming forward, thinking that they will be prosecuted themselves for some minor involvement in whatever activity and masking out the bigger problem. That is a very good case in point that he makes—the one where you've been involved in some kind of drug issue and, therefore, you think you're liable to prosecution and don't come forward—but there are many others where people think that they are falling foul of the immigration rules or a number of other things, and we've been at great pains to ensure that people see the bigger crime behind the front and also see the crime ring behind the individual who is caught up in it.