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Child Slavery

I agree with my right hon. Friend. He is 100% right. Britain should play a stronger role on this issue, and perhaps later in my speech I will address that point. It is important that Britain take the lead on this issue, because slavery is such an horrific crime. The US Department of State has estimated that up to 800,000 people are trafficked across borders worldwide. Most of them are women and children who are trafficked for sexual purposes. That figure does not include people trafficked within individual countries. Concerns about the trafficking of children and young people for sexual purposes in the United Kingdom have been raised for some time. I commend the work of ECPAT, which is a very good organisation. Its full name is ““End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes””. In its October 2010 report, ““Child trafficking in the UK: a snapshot””, it made 10 recommendations. They range from establishing a Government rapporteur on trafficking to the issue of departmental responsibility for safeguarding the child victims of trafficking. They also include very practical recommendations such as the appointment of"““a designated lead manager on child trafficking…in every local authority””," the provision of"““safe accommodation for all child victims of trafficking””," and the creation of"““a system of guardianship for child victims of trafficking. Such a system would mean that every child victim of trafficking would have someone with parental responsibility””." I am sure that the Minister is well aware of those recommendations and I ask him to give us an update on what the Government are doing with regard to them.