Slavery charter backed by council

South Lanarkshire Council has backed a modern day slavery charter.

A paper went before a full meeting of councillors, where it was given crossparty support.

Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, commercial organisations with a turnover greater than £36 million are required to develop a slavery and human trafficking statement each year. This applies to companies contracting with the council.

A report by officers explains that the council currently takes a number of steps to limit the potential for human exploitation in the supply chain, and also to improve the employment conditions for those employed by suppliers.

However, The Cooperative Party have launched a modern day slavery charter and are looking to roll this out across UK local authorities.

A number of Scottish councils have already adopted the charter including Renfrewshire, Dundee City Council, North Ayrshire and the City of Edinburgh – with South Lanarkshire now on board.

The charter commits the council to a number of processes, including requiring its contractors to comply fully with the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015 wherever they apply, with contract termination as a potential sanction of noncompliance.