Speeches by Murray.

“Yes, and it was less than a fortnight ago, so even I would not be too critical on that front. Let’s think about that conversation, when it happens. What kind of points will you want to be raising? In your opinion, how should local inquiries, a framework and a national audit be liaising and working in synergy with each …”

“Near the announcement of your involvement, then. I wonder, have you had any engagement with Baroness Casey about how your two pieces of work will engage with each other?”

“Thanks for coming. The evidence you are giving us is very good and interesting. When the Home Secretary announced your involvement, she also announced that Baroness Casey would be doing this audit of existing national issues.”

“Thank you. Looking forward rather than retrospectively, there have been a few announcements by the Government in recent months. For example, grooming is going to be made an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offenders—”

“People smugglers do not just put the immigration system in jeopardy; they exploit the vulnerable and they put lives in danger. There is nothing progressive about allowing the vulnerable to be exploited by these smugglers. Does the Minister agree that we should be straining every sinew to crack down on these gangs and c…”

“My hon. Friend is making an important point about industries such as takeaways being sites of modern slavery. In my local council, East Lothian, there has been a pilot scheme looking specifically at the takeaway industry, and at what regulations local authorities can put in place to allow them to enter premises to see …”

“I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley), both for securing this debate and for her legacy in this field. As the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, her ongoing commitment to the issue is palpable, and I look forward to working with her on it in the years ahead. We are 10…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making that really important point. I remember reading about that case; it is one of the most horrific ones, but there are so many horrific cases of modern slavery. It is taking place on every high street in Britain, and we have to be completely vigilant about finding it everywhere. Today, I …”

“My final question is for you, Baroness Butler-Sloss, and it is still on child trafficking.”

“I want to ask about the cross-Government work. We obviously have the establishment of the new Fair Work Agency coming down the track. Do you have any thoughts on its role in facilitating cross-Government working on this? You may not, because it has not come into existence yet.”

“I got the wrong name; apologies. I wanted to ask for your view on the Government’s new proposal for a specific offence of child criminal exploitation.”

“Does the Minister share my astonishment at the shadow Home Secretary’s argument given that the Conservatives wasted tens of millions of pounds on accommodation that could not be used and billions on hotels? The state of the asylum system that we inherited is unbelievable. Will the Minister commit to reforming that seri…”

“Do you have any reflections on the difference in how this works between Scotland and England?”

“Even down here.”

“Caroline, it is the Crown Office in Scotland who do the prosecutions. Do you have a view on how it is different?”

“What did I say?”

“What we always hear from providers in Scotland when it comes to children is that it is hard to explain to service providers why children should be referred to the NRM in Scotland, because they do not get anything extra, given what they would get for child protection. Do you agree? Do you think it applies UK-wide?”

“As we know, working on modern slavery in the UK can be a bit of an alphabet soup. You have Border Force, UKVI, GLAA, NCA—and that is just within the Home Office. Then you have all the police forces, local authorities and the devolved Administrations. How effective are we at cross-Government working in the UK, and where…”

“We hear a lot from the current Government about tackling the exploitative gangs that traffic people and smuggle people across the channel. How effective is our work with international partners in tackling that?”

“I have some more questions about the identification process for victims and how we spot victims in the UK. What do you think is the most effective way of spotting victims for frontline first-responder organisations, and how has that either improved or got worse in the last 10 years?”