---

Trafficking in Human Beings

No, I do not, because once the text was available, we looked at it and made the recommendation very quickly, so there has been no practical delay at all. We have examined in great detail the final text and its impacts on the UK, and have concluded that applying to opt in would benefit the UK as well as—most importantly—the victims of trafficking. Applying to opt in to the directive will maintain our position and will continue to send a signal to traffickers that the UK is very serious about tackling trafficking. I am absolutely clear, however, that merely applying to opt in is not enough. We have much work to do to ensure that the directive is implemented in an effective way across the UK. There has been great interest in how we will implement certain measures in it, which I will deal with in a moment. The UK already complies with the majority of its measures. We have said from the outset that opting in to the directive will require us to make some legislative changes to ensure full compliance, and we are ready to do that. This will include widening extra-territorial jurisdiction. The directive requires us to establish extra-territorial jurisdiction when the offender is a UK national. It also gives us discretion about whether to establish jurisdiction over cases in which the offender is an habitual resident. I know that that particular issue has caused much debate; another is that of child guardians. On this, the directive contains a number of important provisions about assistance and support for child victims of trafficking. We are confident that the UK is compliant with those measures. Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. We believe that this responsibility should remain with the local authorities that co-ordinate the arrangements for each child to ensure that they are safe and to promote their welfare.