A COALITION formed in 2019 to combat modern slavery in firms’ supply chains has since been backed by 65 investors with collective assets of £15 trillion, CCLA Investment Management reports.
CCLA invests money on behalf of virtually 12,000 Church of England clients, including parishes, dioceses, and cathedrals. Its latest report, Find It, Fix It, Prevent It, published on Wednesday, is known as after the initiative (News, 1 September 2023), which was launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2019.
Modern slavery presents a financial risk to business, the report says. “Ten million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 in comparison with 2016 global estimates. Of those trapped in forced labour, 63 per cent are within the private sector, which suggests that the business sector is exposed to modern slavery risk. The UK alone imports an estimated US$18 billion price of products that present a high slavery risk.”
It points to the recent establishment of the CCLA Modern Slavery Benchmark, which assesses the modern-slavery statements and other disclosures of the biggest 100 UK firms. This has led businesses that deal in consumer goods, travel, retail, mining, technology, and finance to take a position latest resources into tackling modern slavery and promoting human rights, it says.
A former UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, a CCLA consultant, said: “There is evidence that firms are taking more steps to discover, mitigate, and forestall forced labour. It is this type of responsible business conduct which is able to prevent vulnerable staff from egregious exploitation and abuse.”
Several large publicly listed firms, including the National Grid, Reckitt, RELX, Rio Tinto, and Tesco, have now acknowledged this benchmark of their 2023/24 modern-slavery statements, CCLA reports.
Also highlighted is a round table on modern slavery in the development sector, held by the Cabinet Office, CCLA Investment Management, LGT Wealth Management, and the Supply Chain Sustainability School. It was also attended by 17 UK-listed and personal construction firms, including Balfour Beatty.
“We have been following industry conversations on this topic for the reason that roundtable, and we understand that several large construction firms have indicated they’re willing to support the event of a such a network,” the report says.
Dame Sara and Dr Martin Buttle, the Better Work Lead for CCLA, gave evidence this 12 months to the House of Lords review of the Modern Slavery Act. They argued that stronger laws was needed to enhance transparency in supply chains.
The same argument has been submitted in written evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on Human Trafficking: that the UK should adopt the same model to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which was agreed in May.
The chief executive of CCLA, Peter Hugh Smith, said: “Modern slavery is commonly a misunderstood and underestimated problem, and one where investor engagement has the potential to drive tangible and lasting positive change. We remain committed . . . to tackling modern slavery head-on.”
