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Human Trafficking

A key recommendation of the original Operation Pentameter was that we needed a UK human trafficking centre that co-ordinated police activity across the country; the operation would have been unsuccessful if we had not learned that lesson. I turn to international co-operation, which the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon has discussed on a number of occasions. We are seeking to establish a Pentameter operation across the G6 as soon as we can. The convention requires us to set minimum requirements for residents’ permits and the reflection period. Currently, we operate a 30-day period for victims accepted on to the POPPY project; we are considering the various models of residents’ permits to establish what is appropriate. I come to the points raised by the hon. Member for Totnes, who mentioned the Council of Europe. All hon. Members will be pleased that we signed the Council of Europe convention, on 23 March. Seven countries have now ratified. Let me take the issue head on: we do not have a timetable for ratification, and that may disappoint the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon. However, I have consistently said to stakeholders and various meetings, and I have tried to convey to hon. Members, that I am proud that we have signed the Council of Europe convention. We can argue about whether that took too long, but I am proud of the fact that we have done it. If I am still in my post, I shall also be proud—if I am not, I shall still be proud, but from a different position—of the fact that when we ratify the convention, everything that is supposed to be in place for the convention to be ratified will be. We have an action plan that deals with identification, prevention, what we are going to do about children and adult victims, and labour exploitation. For each of those areas, the plan sets out action points that we have to make a reality. I made that point at the beginning. We can ratify the treaty before that, but ratification is supposed to happen when all the various elements have been committed to. Would hon. Members really want us to ratify when we know that all the elements that are supposed to be in place for the ratification to be meaningful and real are not in place? I have said it before, and it is a point worth making: all hon. Members here, including me, will have brought a hall to its feet by telling people what they want to hear. We could say, ““We will ratify tomorrow,”” and everybody would say that that was fantastic. However, if we said that tomorrow, the fundamental truth would be that we would know that there would be weaknesses in every area of the action plan. Elements such as housing, identification procedures and protections for children would not be in place; we would know that all those elements were not there. We want to ratify when we are in a position to put our hands on our hearts and say, ““We have done all the things that we are required to do.”” I want ratification as quickly as possible and to see it taken forward as soon as possible. I make this commitment to all in the Chamber: while I am in this post—or if I return to the Back Benches or go to wherever else it might be—I shall continue to pursue ratification and to try to make it come about as soon as possible.