Modern slavery statement

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust’s Response to the Requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

Definition of Offences

SLAVERY, SERVITUDE AND FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOUR

A person commits an offence if:

• The person holds another person in slavery or servitude and the circumstances are such that the person knows or ought to know that the other person is held in slavery or servitude, or;
• The person requires another person to perform forced or compulsory labour and the circumstances are such that the person knows or ought to know that the other person is being required to perform forced or compulsory labour.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

A person commits an offence if:

• The person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person (victim) with a view to being exploited.
• It is irrelevant whether the victim consents to travel and whether or not the victim is an adult or a child.

EXPLOITATION

A person is exploited if one or more of the following issues are identified in relation to the victim:

• Slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour
• Sexual exploitation
• Removal of organs
• Securing services by force, threats and deception
• Securing services from children, young people and vulnerable persons

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (‘the Trust’)

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is one of the main providers of mental health, social care and learning disability services in the West Midlands.

With more than 30 sites, we provide services in the home, community and hospital to around 464,000 people of all ages in Stoke on Trent and across North Staffordshire.

We provide specialist inpatient and day patient care to children across the West Midlands who are suffering severe or complex mental health conditions (Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, CAMHS) and substance misuse services to people throughout Staffordshire.

As well as a key partner with other NHS organisations, we work closely with the voluntary sector to support people with mental health problems

Most inpatient services are based at Harplands Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, which opened in 2001.

The Trust has a team of around 1,400 staff and our services includes:

• Adult Mental Health Inpatient Services
• Adult Mental Health Community Services
• Substance Misuse Services
• Neuro and Old Age Psychiatry Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Children and Young People’s Services
• Corporate Services

The Trust’s Statement of Response:

In accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Trust makes the following statement regarding the steps it has taken in the financial year 2018/19 to ensure that Modern Slavery (i.e. slavery and human trafficking) is not taking place in any part of its supply chains.

The Trust is committed to ensuring that there is no Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.

We are committed to social and environmental responsibility and have zero tolerance for Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

Any identified concerns regarding Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking are escalated as part of the organisational safeguarding process working in conjunction with our partner agencies.

This statement confirms that:

• The Trust adheres to the National NHS Employment Checks /Standards (this includes employees UK address, right to work in the UK and suitable references)
• The Trust has systems to encourage the reporting of concerns and the protection of whistle-blowers
• A review is undertaken of all safeguarding referrals via the Trust incident reporting system and presentation of data is shared at Trust Safeguarding Governance and Patient Safety Committee
• The Trust Safeguarding Adult Policy 1.12b identifies and defines human trafficking and the response, which will be coordinated under the Safeguarding Adults process and the led by the police who are the lead agency. (A national framework is in place to assist in the formal identification and help to coordinate the referral of victims to appropriate services, known as the National Referral Mechanism
• The referral process for adults/ children at risk would be the appropriate safeguarding referral process. Our recruitment and payroll systems comply with NHS employment checks and Asylum and Immigration Act (1996 and 2016) requirements (i.e. people bought into the country illegally will not have a National Insurance number)

During 2018/19

The Trust aims to be as effective as possible in ensuring that Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking is not taking place in any part of its business or supply chains, and in addition to the above actions, measure its performance against the following indicators:

• The Trust endeavors to build long standing relationships with our suppliers and make clear our expectations of business behaviour. Where national or international supply chains are used, we expect these suppliers to have suitable anti-slavery and human trafficking policies and procedures and where there is a risk of Slavery and Human Trafficking taking place, steps have been taken to assess and manage that risk.
• Develop a level of communication with the next link in the supply chain and their understanding of, and compliance with, our expectations in relation to the NHS terms and conditions. These conditions relate to issues such as bribery, slavery and other ethical considerations.
• Working in partnership with Multi-Agency partners leading on this agenda in Staffordshire, the Trust is represented on the Staffordshire Safeguarding Adult Partnership Board (SSAPB).

This statement is made pursuant to Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our organisation’s Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking statement for the financial year 2018/19.