Moved by
Lord Coaker
124A: After Clause 39, insert the following new Clause—
“Guidance on security of reporting for victims of crime
(1) The Secretary of State must issue guidance to such public authorities and other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate on—
(a) the prohibition of automatic sharing of personal data for immigration purposes;
(b) specified circumstances in which data may be shared regarding victims of crime for the purposes of offences under section 39.
(2) The Secretary of State may, from time to time, revise the guidance issued under subsection (1).
(3) The Secretary of State must arrange for any guidance issued or revised under this section to be published in a way the Secretary of State considers appropriate.”
Member’s explanatory statement
This new Clause would require the Secretary of State to make provisions for safe reporting. This is to probe how the duty of law enforcement to investigate offences under Clause 39 will interact with their duty to support victims of trafficking and seek prosecution of human traffickers.
My Lords, this group is about safe reporting, which is the ability for trafficking victims and migrant victims of domestic abuse to report crimes to the police without finding themselves criminalised or deported for their
immigration status. This follows directly on from the discussion we have just had about the new offences under Clause 39. Amendment 124A would require the Secretary of State to provide guidance on a safe reporting mechanism and specify the circumstances in which data may be shared regarding victims of crime for the purposes of offences under Section 39. This is to raise a specific question about victims of trafficking who are caught by the newly tightened offences of arrival and entry into the UK. I declare my interest as a member of the Rights Lab working on modern slavery at the University of Nottingham.
Where a person has arrived illegally in the UK—according to the Government—and at the hands of people smugglers, will law enforcement’s first duty be to recognise that person as a criminal under Section 39, or recognise them as a victim of trafficking and seek prosecution of the criminal gang who trafficked them? The concern is that criminalisation under Clause 39 will make victims less likely to present themselves to the police to seek help or to report perpetrators, for fear of their own criminalisation. As we have been told by a number of organisations, protecting victims, and enabling the police to investigate the facilitators of trafficking and the perpetrators of abuse and exploitation, must be prioritised over compelling the police to carry out the role of immigration enforcement. This was highlighted in a 2018 super-complaint by Southall Black Sisters and Liberty on data sharing between the police and the Home Office. The findings concluded that data sharing arrangements are significantly harming not only victims of crime but the public interest, as crimes are not reported and therefore remain unpunished. My question for the Minister is: how will Clause 39 safeguard victims of crime? How will it deal with this data-sharing problem that I have highlighted?
This is a wider application of the same question that Amendment 140 poses on safe reporting for victims of domestic abuse. We strongly support Amendment 140 in the name of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of London, to which my noble friend Lord Rosser, the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, and the noble Lord, Lord Paddick have added their names. This amendment is back before this Committee following multiple votes of support for migrant survivors of abuse by this House on the Domestic Abuse Bill; following the upheld super-complaint from Southall Black Sisters; and following a government review which decided that no change was needed.
I will stop here as I know the hour is getting late, but this is a very important amendment. It deals with something that has always bedevilled this system—namely, that victims are sometimes in a situation where, because of the exploitation they experience, they have committed what the Government and law enforcement may consider a crime. None the less, they are victims. If we want to catch and deal with the perpetrators, we must understand the victims’ circumstances and use them as witnesses to bring those who commit these offences to justice. I beg to move.
11.45 pm