Part 5—Protection of victims
- (c) requiring an independent child trafficking advocate to be appointed for a child as soon as reasonably practicable, where there are reasonable grounds to believe a child may be a victim of human trafficking;
- (d) about the functions of independent child trafficking advocates;
- (e) requiring public authorities which provide services or take decisions in relation to a child for whom an independent child trafficking advocate has been appointed to—
- (i) recognise, and pay due regard to, the advocate’s functions, and
- (ii) provide the advocate with access to such information relating to the child as will enable the advocate to carry out those functions effectively (so far as the authority may do so without contravening a restriction on disclosure of the information).
(7) The Secretary of State must, no later than 9 months after the day on which this Act is passed, lay before Parliament a report on the steps the Secretary of State proposes to take in relation to the powers conferred by this section.
49Guidance about identifying and supporting victims
(1) The Secretary of State must issue guidance to such public authorities and other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate about—
- (a) the sorts of things which indicate that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking;
- (b) arrangements for providing assistance and support to persons who there are reasonable grounds to believe may be victims of slavery or human trafficking;
- (c) arrangements for determining whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking.
(2) The Secretary of State may, from time to time, revise the guidance issued under subsection (1).
(3) The Secretary of State must arrange for any guidance issued or revised under this section to be published in a way the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
(4) If the Secretary of State makes regulations under section 50, the references in subsection (1) to “arrangements” include arrangements under the regulations.
50Regulations about identifying and supporting victims
(1) The Secretary of State may make regulations providing for assistance and support to be provided to persons—
- (a) who there are reasonable grounds to believe may be victims of slavery or human trafficking;
- (b) who are victims of slavery or human trafficking.
(2) The Secretary of State may make regulations providing for public authorities to determine (for the purposes of regulations under subsection (1) or other purposes specified in the regulations) whether—
- (a) there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking;
- (b) a person is a victim of slavery or human trafficking.
