March 17, 2024: The Freedom Bus Goes to Blackpool
It was cold but bright, at least to begin with, before the rain began, and we even took people on board for warmth. As always we spoke to a wide variety of people, some who nothing and some who were already well informed via their organisations and took extra leaflets away with them. Once again we had a good turn out of Soroptimists who braved the weather and did their march through town.
March 15, 2024: Praying the Stations of the Cross for Victims of Human Trafficking
This was at St Michael and St John’s Church, Clitheroe, led by Mark Wiggin and Anthony Brown.
We used the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ version which can be found here
March 3, 2024: GMP NGO Forum Meeting
The detailed notes of the meeting provided by the Forum can be found here
February 29, 2024: Public Policy Exchange Webinar on Combating Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery in the UK
This webinar entitled Developing a Stronger Multi-Agency Response for Identifying and Supporting Victims and Convicting Perpetrators was a symposium with the aim of providing local authorities, police forces, health professionals, criminal justice agencies, academics and charities, with a timely opportunity to examine methods of improving the identification and disruption of modern slavery and human trafficking, and to assess government policy and legislation in this area. It also aimed to enable delegates to share best practice in strengthening local partnership arrangements and coordination activities to increase reporting and deliver sustained support for victims.
You can see Anthony Brown’s reflections following the Webinar here
February 25, 2024: Quaker Meeting House
Anthony Brown spoke the Quakers meeting for one hour and answered questions on modern slavery and human trafficking
February 8, 2024, Launch of the Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership (PLASP) Pledge
Today on the Feast Day of St Bakhita (Patron Saint of Modern Sudan and Human Trafficking survivors), PLASP launches its new Anti Slavery Pledge. The Pledge is aimed predominantly at the Business Community is also appropriate for others including charities, voluntary organisations and faith groups.
You can see the pledge here.
February 8, 2024, Day of Prayer Against Human Trafficking
For 2024, the Diocese of Salford, Modern Slavery Working Group focuses on supporting parishes and schools. See the full story here
December 8, 2023: GMP NGO Forum Meeting
Of note:
The Forum, and Particularly Sian Payne (Partnership Officer for Programme Challenger), spoke at length about recent concerns about the Care Sector. The Government’s Visa Scheme is suffering widespread abuse at the hands of those seeking to profit from the loopholes in rhe system, which make it very easy to exploit vulnerable workers post Brexit. GMP always present detailed figures at meetings, based on data gathering, which is clearly a well resourced priority. The figures don’t yet reflect what is clearly happening but GMP are well aware, from the national picture, and are monitoring. In fact, GMP have just published a report – A guide to Exploitation and Immigration Crime in the Care Sector.
Dr Matthew Young who used to work for the Red Cross, before moving to a research job at Nottingham University, has now moved to Causeway which is a revamped version of former City Hearts. He is using his academic background and his passion for fighting modern slavery in his new role of Research and Policy Manager, which focuses on victim experiences as relayed by them, rather than through statistics and second-hand information. “Active Participation” is a key phrase in the research – close perhaps to ethnography – and it not only benefits the victims enormously through their experience of involvement, but is also extremely enormously beneficial to Causeway, in providing insights for victim care that you wouldn’t get without the direct involvement of the victims themselves.
We were presented with the key achievements for the year, rather understated I felt:
- Strengthened relationships and communication between partners.
- Call to Action for the independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
- Interim pre-NRM support service in response to the delays to RG decisions
- Fed into Care Sector taskforce
- Provided feedback into the National Coordinators Forum to share best practice, trends and gaps on a national picture.
October 19, 2023, PLASP MEETING AND ASSOCIATED NEWS
See the summary note which covers a wide range of subjects including modern slavery incidents, concerns about the extend of modern slavery in the Care Sector, a PLASP Pledge for organisations, and a very positive reference to PLASP in a recent HMICFRS inspection of Lancashire Constabulary.
October 18, 2023: Our Anti-Trafficking stall at UCLAN Engineering, Construction & Computing Fair
This Fair is for students seeking employment and a useful occasion to talk them about modern slavery, including the dangers, particularly for foreign students, of exploitation. It was also a useful opportunity for updating with PLASP members.
October 14, 2023: PLASP Roadshow at Preston
We weren’t able to park the bus by the Cenotaph this time as there was a market, so we toured Blackburn stopping at Preston North End and the Train Station before parking at the Bus Station and accessing the town from there. Our new driver relaxed between times with a modern slavery leaflet and the Soroptimists were out in force once more. We had the usual discussions with passers by, notably two teachers who each took a wadge of leaflets to share at their schools.
The new bus, like the old one, sports the Caritas logo, to highlight the important Caritas partnership with PLASP. Caritas funded the first bus via money and Our Lady of the Valley volunteers at a cost of £750. The new bus must have cost Lancashire Constabulary a lot more, but so successful has it been in promoting awareness of modern slavery and raising the profile of PLASP across the country, that they clearly feel it is good investment. In fact, http://sjfiremuseum.org/privacy-policy/ His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have recently PLASP as a model for others to follow, noting that PLASP had set an example to other constabulary partnerships in their response to human trafficking and modern slavery.
,September 23, 2023: Our Anti-Trafficking stall at the Our Lady of the Valley Fun Day
The Fun Day was mainly to promote community between St Michael and St John’s Church and School but also beyond that to the other Our Lady of the Valley churches of St Mary’s in Sabden and St Hubert’s at Dunsop Bridge, and also the local Faith and non-Faith community in Clitheroe. Although the emphasis was to be “fun” the event also promoted parish/school action on social justice and environmental issues.
September 17, 2023: Marek speaks at the Sabden Women’s Group
Mrs Sylvia Davies presents £50 to Marek after he told Sabden Women’s Group about his years as a victim of modern day slavery.
September 7, 2023: PLASP Roadshow, Leyland (and a new bus)
These roadshows always attract attention on the day and the response to social media posts is huge, greatly adding to the promotion of PLASP and raising awareness on modern slavery. The bus was sited at the Tesco car park and among its visitors we were pleased to have Chris and Kim Lomax, Mayor and Mayoress for South Ribble.
See also the report on the Clewer website
August 15, 2023: Using virtual reality headsets to raise awareness of modern slavery
The Pan-Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership (PLASP) has been pioneering anti-slavery action and awareness for the last 5 years. Sion Hall, the chair of PLASP is always looking for new and exciting ways to communicate the issues of modern slavery to different audiences. He became aware that the Lancashire Constabulary had invested in a number of virtual reality (VR) headsets and he began researching how this cutting-edge technology could be used to raise awareness of modern slavery.
See the full report on the Clewer Initiative website
July 7, 2023: GMP NGO Forum meeting
See some notes from the meeting here
May 18, 2023: BooHoo Distribution Centre, Burnley
Boohoo have had a very negative press with allegations linking Boohoo with factories in their supply chains and in particular the wide national press reporting in 2018, following a Financial Times investigation in the Leicester garment industry.
Boohoo have always responded by highlighting what they are doing to overcome the problems facing a huge organization dependent on a large number of supply chains and in December 2018 Boohoo PLC became members of the NGO charity Hope4Justice/Slave Free Alliance.
A copy of Boohoo’s Modern Slavery Statement can be found here
However allegations have continued with a Times and Sunday Times report in November 2022, after an undercover worker went into the Boohoo Distribution Centre in Burnley.
In 2023 Boohoo invited PLASP to their Burnley Distribution Centre to tour the site and host the May PLASP meeting in their conference room. Boohoo are now part of the PLASP partnership and attend PLASP meetings.
The Boohoo Distribution Centre is an impressive site, massive, clean and supported by high tech control of a system requiring relatively few operatives.
Sarah Jenkins, Human Resource Manager, presented us with a detailed overview of Boohoo’s work, the nature of its workforce and its policy on employee support, training and development. On welfare and modern slavery, Sarah told us they are proactive and have regular audits and seek information on newcomers – mobile data, next of kin, how they came here, how well they know others and who they pay rent to (awareness of houses of multiple occupation which are a feature in parts of Burnley close to Boohoo).
Sarah then took us on a tour of the centre
May 12, 2023: Getting to Work on Modern Slavery in Cumbria
Sion Hall, representing PLASP, was one of 80 representatives from the Police, Fire Service, NHS, Local Government, Churches, Probation Services, Third Sector as well as other regional partners from the The Salvation Army, Medaille and The Clewer Initiative gathered in Barrow-in Furness. to discuss how modern slavery can be tackled more effectively in Cumbria.
See the full Clewer Initiative article here
In this short video, Amanda le Noble (Medaille Trust) , Sion Hall, Janine Adams (Furness Multi-cultural Community Forum) and Gordon (Westmorland and Furness Council) share their thoughts and experiences.
April 16, 2023: Marek Kovik comes to Mass at Sabden
On Sunday, Marek Krolik, the Polish man rescued from slavery in a Baxenden scrapyard, came to Mass at Sabden again. Unfortunately, there was no coffee so no chance to talk with parishioners about his experiences as he did a few weeks ago. Marek is keen to talk about what happened to him and how he was finally rescued. No-one suspected there was anything amiss. Slavery is a crime hidden “in plain sight”. Marek hopes to come and talk to a larger group of OLOTV parishioners in Clitheroe in the not too distant future but you can read his story to here.
March 2, 2023: Clitheroe Man in National Film Campaign to Tackle Modern Slavery
Sion Hall features in five films for Journeys, a new, multi-media resource from The Clewer Initiative (the Church of England’s response to modern slavery) which seeks to people to take action against modern slavery. Journeys consists of five mini films and two accompanying resources – one for Lent and one that is suitable for anyone, at any time of year!
Sion, Chair of the Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership (PLASP), living in Clitheroe, appears throughout the five films, sharing his story of setting up PLASP and his experience of working alongside modern slavery victims during his 35-year career.
You can see the full article in the Lancashire Telegraph here
Listen to Sion being insterviewed about Journeys on Radio Lancashire
February 8, 2023: St Bakhita Day: Salford Diocese New Code of Conduct to tackle Modern Slavery
The code makes clear that all businesses, charities, and organisations have a responsibility to act in the fight against modern slavery. The Code of Conduct for Suppliers represents Salford diocese’s efforts to purchase, services and works that avoid exploitative labour practice, have the least negative impact on the environment and uphold the principle of human dignity.
Note the current work builds on work already undertaken by Caritas Anti-Trafficking which began as an initiative by parish volunteers in Our Lady of the Valley Parish, Clitheroe in 2015, working with East Lancashire Police to raise awareness.
See the full news item here
On the same day the Santa Marta Group (SMG) launched its three year plan in Salford Cathedral, a venue chosen no doubt because of the work on human trafficking done in Salford Diocese since 2015. See the SMG news item here
September 23, 2022: Caritas Diocese of Salford Ani-Trafficking update for September NGO Forum
http://punchdrunksoul.com/aboutus/copy-of-team-pics-5/ Caritas Diocese of Salford (relevant to Faith Partners)
A Catholic Anti-Slavery Forum was set up in 2020 following a 2019 Salford initiated Conference for all England and Wales Catholic dioceses and Catholic organizations. In July 2022, the Forum agreed a Declaration committing the members of the Forum to partnership working in the widest possible sense. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Catholic Primate of England and Wales and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales who is a member of the Forum described its intent as:
“… a common heart and a common aim, but no desire to be coordinated into some monster organization, but just to see each other, know each other, to discern what each other does and be stronger for it.”
Thus, it falls short of the signed document envisaged in 2019 but is still a strong move in the right direction.
The Diocese of Salford publicised its Modern Slavery Statement in 2022, which is on the Anti-Slavery Partnership Toolkit under Faith Responses to Modern Slavery. A key aspect of the statement is its attempt to reach Catholic clergy and parishioners with a message from Bishop John Arnold: “People experiencing modern slavery and trafficking should rightly see our churches and social outreach as places of sanctuary and refuge. It is important, therefore, to ensure that all members of the church, clergy, parishioners, staff and volunteers are aware of the signs to look out for and how they can help survivors find protection and support.”
The Clewer Initiative has recently produced some Modern Slavery training for parish safeguarding officers, which we are exploring it in the light of Bishop John’s message above.
Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership
The Freedom Bus is going to be replaced. The bus, owned by Moving People, and on the school runs during term time, is used by PLASP for their roadshows (next one in Blackpool on October 22) The current bus was signed by Our Lady of the Valley parishioners and funded by Caritas Salford. Lancashire Constabulary is signing the new bus at a cost of over £5,000.
The Freedom Bus has so far been supplemented by the Journey to Freedom, which is a mobile, audio walkthrough comprising eight rooms covering sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and domestic servitude. Journey to Freedom will be replaced by virtual reality in the New Year.
The Freedom Bus
Journey to Freedom
The first VR scenario developed is sexual exploitation and the next one will probably be County Lines. See details on the Clewer website.
Anthony Brown
Caritas Salford Modern Slavery Representative
September 2022
September 23, 2022: GMP, NGO Forum
- Cracking homelessness will put us well on the way to talking a significant part of slavery
- The ability for organisations to spot signs of weakness/vulnerability is key
- Homeless individuals pop up and disappear – periods of exploitation?
- Trust and a strong relationship are key to accepting support
- Incident reporting suggests that people are becoming more comfortable coming to the Police
- Referrals from the public are now top of the list suggesting increased awareness and willingness to report.
- There has been a big spike in requests for legal help.
- Information from 130 survivors however, suggests and an alarming lack of knowledge of the NRM and support. Many didn’t know what the NRM was, where the money they received came from, what system they were in or who to ask.
Much of the above applies to a recent case of a homeless, non English speaking potential trafficking victim in Lancashire:
- He was recognised by the community and local organisations as vulnerable and given a great deal of coordinated support.
- He kept disappearing and reappearing and it later turned out that he had been supported and then disappeared in other locations around the
- He was wary of the Police and everybody who tried to help but Hope for Justice made some strides towards trust and having disappeared once again he reported to the Police elsewhere, evidently more confident he would get support.
- He was very difficult to communicate with and there was little indication of understanding of the full extent of the support received, or on offer.
September 14, 2022: Police event at Blackburn Rovers Football Club
Our Anti-Trafficking stall with PLASP and Hope for Justice
July 8, 2022: Catholic Anti-Trafficking Forum Meeting
The meeting was recorded and I assume that we will have full notes in time for the next one.
I counted 28 attending, but of the 15 dioceses who attended the October 2019 Conference I only noted Salford, Portsmouth and Birmingham. Most delegates were from organisations with a victim orientation. However, the importance of the Forum was highlighted by the presence of the usual key figures – Cardinal Nichols, Bishop William Kenny, David Ryall, Raymond Friel, Kevin Hyland, Linda Dearlove, and of course Arise representatives including Luke de Pulford. We now also have Peter Fahy, trustee of Salford Diocese and Caritas Salford who also chairs the recently formed Salford Diocese modern slavery group (name yet to be agreed).
Since October 2019 the emphasis has shifted away from a diocesan focus – the original Salford conception was largely diocesan – to a victim-orientated one. Much of the meeting was about the business model of modern slavery and national and international legislation.
My fuller notes are here.
The final “Declaration” can be found here
Anthony Brown
February 22, 2022: Catholic Anti-Slavery Forum (One Church Approach Meeting)
For full background to this Forum see the One Church Approach webpage
[Update to Bishop John and his reply]
Anthony
Thank you for this information. What a serious problem, and getting worse. But organisation like this, and networking, will surely have an impact.
+John
Catholic Anti-Slavery Forum Meeting: 22 February 2022
In attendance via zoom meeting:
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Bishop Kenny (Episcopal Liaison to the National Board of Catholic Women)
Lynda Dearlove (Women from the Well) Chair
Kevin Hyland (formerly Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Chair
Luke de Pulford (Director of Arise) Forum Secretariat
Jaya Pathak (Arise and Forum administrator)
David Ryall (CBCEW)
Raymond Friel (CSAN)
Clive Chapman (CSAN)
Garry Smith (The Medaille Trust)
William Neal (JRS)
Martin Foley (Apostleship of the Sea)
Karen Anstiss (Carias Bakhita House)
Anthony Brown (Caritas Diocese of Salford
Carol Hill (Catholic Care, Diocese of Leeds)
Sian Thomas (Caritas Diocese of Brentwood)
Abi Martin (St Chads Sanctuary)
Bridgetta Rooney (Sisters of St Joseph of Peace)
Muaricio Silva (Columbian Missionaries)
Jim Hannigan
Hannah (Volunteer)
Purpose of the Forum
The Catholic Anti-Slavery Forum exists to provide a meeting space within which Catholic organisations working to address exploitation can meet, share ideas and be briefed on issues of common concern. It does not seek to be a representative body and will not have its own legal or charitable personality. It is, in effect, a secretariat provided for the common benefit of these organisations. The common hope is that the Forum will help to create the conditions for increased collaboration between Catholic groups working in this space to the benefit of those who have suffered, or are at risk of, exploitation. For the time being, Arise has agreed to facilitate this service, but the initiative belongs to, and will be shaped by, the membership. To that end, the agenda for meetings will be decided upon by members and led by consensus.
Cardinal Nichols Introduction
In welcoming people to the meeting, and stressing the importance of working together, Cardinal Nichols said that the problem was getting worse instead of better. “In this long struggle against modern slavery we are probably losing rather than winning, because just as the situation of so many people around the world worsens, so the supply chain of people for the traffickers grows.”
With the purpose of the Forum expressed as above, Kevin Hyland emphasized that it’s not about reinventing something it’s about getting that support and that hope [that are essential to progress].
National Referral Mechanism
Major concerns were raised about the National Referral Mechanism and the slow speed of reaching a decision. We heard that the average wait from a Reasonable Ground Decision to a final decision was 295 days. The Medaille reported an example of someone who had so far spent three Christmases in a Medaille safe house. (Yesterday morning the Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership corrected the figure and said it was actually much worse at 400 days.) There are international obligations we are not heeding.
Nationality and Borders Bill
The Human Trafficking Foundation attended seven meetings at Parliament and it seems there is little likelihood there will be much change.
After Exploitation have drafted a very good letter asking MPs to remove Section 5 (a cluster of measures, restricting support for survivors of trafficking). Organisations and individuals are encouraged to respond using the letter.
JRS UK and SVP put out a briefing to Catholic peers on 23 October, focusing on clause 11 (e.g. late disclosure and how travel to UK) and asked CSAN to put out to as many Catholic organisations as possible.
A possible area for change is offshore processing which Detention Action are focusing on and is a potential winnable area.
Parts of the Bill run contrary to the Council of Europe and the ECHR
A current strategy is to focus on amendments in the Lords even though it is likely anything will be overruled in the Commons.
Supply chains and amendments to the Modern Slavery Bill
I referred to the Salford Diocese Modern Slavery Statement emphasizing that a strength of our statement compared with others is the very real policy/procedures put in place to ensure the Statement has teeth. Also, In contrast to other statements, ours recognized the personal complicity of, and need for action from, the entirety of the Catholic population, therefore going beyond good practice at organizational level. In the context of subsequent discussion, the publication of our Statement seems timely.
There are amendments to the 2015 Modern Slavery Bill and a 2nd reading in the Lords fairly soon aims to hold businesses to account on certain aspects of transparency. There is cross party willingness to support the amendments. Luke mentioned a special briefing for those interested (so maybe Peter Fahy or Sion Hall?)
In addition there will be million pound fines for companies the Government does not believe is complying with the Modern Slavery Act
Cardinal Nichols proposed a Work theme on supply chains in our charities and referred to a European meeting which majored on our churches’ and Catholic charities’ supply chains
Medaille Trust update
Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) is going well working with police forces. Medaille staff are part of victim rescue operations and work with the Police interviewing victims who are generally wary of authority. (Lancashire Police are part of this initiative)
The Moving on Project is a Medaille/Snowdrop project supporting female victims of human trafficking working in a number of areas including Manchester. They are looking for more partners but offers of involvement need to come with some supportive funding.
Progress & communications matters
I raised this with Luke de Pulford prior to the meeting and he put on the agenda. I said that it was now over two years since the October 2019 In Plain Sight Conference (organised by Caritas Diocese of Salford through CSAN) and we still did not have the Declaration for partnership working, and the majority of people attending the 2019 Conference had heard nothing since the summary notes put out shortly afterwards. The response was:
After a number of requests for change, they had been waiting for Bishop William Kenny and the Declaration would hopefully be agreed at the next meeting in three months’ time. Bishop Kenny said he looked forward to seeing the latest draft.
All who attended the 2019 Conference and many others had been invited to all three meetings of the Forum, and with a reminder for each they had received six invitations. (I will check with my other diocesan links but this morning I spoke to one of the speakers at the 2019 Conference who had heard nothing except via myself. I will get back to Arise on this because it is important that as many Catholic organisations as possible subscribe to partnership working)
Future meetings and Working Groups
Jaya (Arise) has offered to coordinate working groups. In that context a closing statement from Women from the Well included the term “synodal” and represented well the spirit in which this group aims to work: “this is the Catholic response so encourage us to be more forward in expressing how we become a synodal church, listening to each other, but also listening to the needs on the ground, to create a more effective response.”
A suggestion of providing notes of meetings, people’s contact details, and papers in advance for easy discussion, was taken up.
Anthony Brown
24 February 2022
February 8, 2022: Launch of the Salford Diocese Modern Slavery Statement
The Modern Slavery Act (2015) includes a requirement for employers in the private sector with a turnover of more than £36m to make a statement about what they are doing to ensure that their supply chains are free of modern day slavery. The Public Sector will soon have to make the same requirement.
Although charities do not currently have to meet this requirement the Diocese, and even the parishes, procure services from many suppliers and there is the possibility of modern trafficking in these suppliers or their supply chains.
Our first thoughts for the Diocese go back to May 24 2019 and a meeting with Libra Solutions when we explored some of the issues: procurement policy, ethical investment policy, mandatory advice on money laundering and a list of trusted suppliers.
We considered the possibility of engaging Libra Solutions or Hope for Justice in drawing up a Modern Slavery Statement. At a meeting on July 15 2019, Peter Fahy felt that the Diocese could draw up the statement in-house but it wasn’t until April 2021 that we started serious discussions with the Diocese.
Sion Hall of our Parish Anti-Trafficking Group drew up the initial draft which went through a number of revisions and additions before publication today on the Feast Day of St Bahkita.
Our statement is probably unique in its reference to the wider issues for parishes: “People experiencing modern slavery and trafficking should rightly see our churches and social outreach as places of sanctuary and refuge. It is important, therefore, to ensure that all members of the church, clergy, parishioners, staff and volunteers are aware of the signs to look out for and how they can help survivors find protection and support”. It also refers to Caritas Anti-Trafficking which was born in the Parish of Our Lady of the Valley: Caritas Anti-Trafficking began as an initiative by parish volunteers in Our Lady of the Valley Parish, Clitheroe in 2015 and working with East Lancashire Police to raise awareness, the project has created various resources to raise awareness of Modern Slavery, delivered a range of talks and seminars to parishes, schools and other voluntary organisations.
See the Diocesan news item on the launch of the statement here
Note the Diocese of Salford Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Statement 2022, is a resource on the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, Anti-Slavery Partnership Toolkit
October 20, 2021: Preston College Freshers Fair
Lilyana Slavova (Hope for Justice), Sion Hall (Lancashire Constabulary PLASP Lead),
Hannah Mitchel (Hope for Justice) and Anthony Brown (Caritas, Diocese of Salford, Anti-Trafficking)
Sion and Lilyana with Andy Pratt
Caritas Diocese of Salford Update of Activities from July 2021 and ongoing
July 12: Porticus consultation on understanding the issues around modern slavery
July 14: Anti-Slavery Forum.
July 14: Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Annual Report (Zoom).
July 20: Afruca, Safeguarding Children from County Lines in School Holidays.
July 22: Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership Meeting
July 24: Burnley Freedom Day (PLASP Roadshow)
August 28: Cheshire Freedom Day (PLASP Roadshow)
Ongoing: Homeless trafficked man
Ongoing: Input to the Caritas Social Action Network response to the Nationality and Borders Bill
Ongoing: Researching the impact of current issues on modern slavery and developments within the Catholic Church and Diocese of Salford with a view to a strategic plan for 2022/2023
For more details see a fuller report here
Freedom Bus outings so far in 2021
On May 29 the Freedom Bus went to Liverpool on an awareness raising event organised by the Pan Lancashire Anti-Slavery Partnership and Stop the Traffik and funded by the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office. The bus parked for a short while outside three car wash establishments before spending three quarters of an hour by Liverpool Anglican Cathedral where we were joined by Merseyside Police. We then spent two hours by the International Slavery Museum where we engaged with the public and handed out leaflets and Medaille magazines.
On June 19 Morrisons in Nelson hosted a Freedom Day. We were very pleased to have Fr Ged Kelly from the Parish of St John Southworth, Nelson, visit us, and also Carol Hartley of our Anti-Trafficking network who brought us delicious home baked cake.
On July 24 the Freedom Bus was in the centre of Burley where we also had a Soroptimist march through town. During the day we had lots of visitors including parishioners from three different Catholic churches in Burnley, two women who were able to recount the problems they were facing on streets with drug dealers in the vicinity and the likely impact of these on their children, and two people who had worked at the Boohoo factory in Burnley and were able to tell us about the working conditions there.
On August 28 we had fantastic weather for our trip to Cheshire. During the course of the day we visited Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn and also drove around the perimeter of the Creamfields festival. As always, we had some very interesting engagement with members of the public although I think we were all surprised at how relatively quiet the town centres were. We have come away with some follow ups, which is great and the social media support was excellent (over 25,000 views on the PLASP Twitter alone, and 200,000 reported on social media generally)
On October 16 Andy Pratt, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner joined us. As usual we gave out a lot of leaflets. More than usual perhaps we found a number of interesting people to talk to. It seems that awareness and concern is increasing and people approached us more than has been in the case in the past. Ceridwen Copping of Home at Home spoke to at least two potential sponsors. The A21 march came and joined us for a while – organised by A21 with the Methodists bringing together the Christian churches.
See the PLASP webpage for pictures of the events .
Freedom Bus outings in the last quarter of 2020
The Freedom Bus has had two outings in the last quarter of 2020.
On Anti-Slavery Day, October 18, it travelled the county. It was joined by PCC Clive Grunshaw and his Deputy Chris Webb in Blackpool. Mr Grunshaw did a great video message/podcast in support. Blackpool Tower and the Harris Building in Preston were lit up to highlight the day.
On December 13 it travelled to Liverpool and visited places including the Town Hall where it was met by the Lord Mayor, the Slavery Museum, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and John Lennon Airport where it was met by the Border Force.
In Plain Sight: How Caritas Salford is taking radical action to eradicate the hidden crime of Modern Day Slavery
See here for an overview
The lockdown has been a time of reflection and for the future we are abandoning the diary style we have used since 2014 and will be introducing news items of particular interest rather than every detail of what we do
April 3, 2020: Caritas Salford Beacon
The spring edition of the Beacon has two articles by Caritas Anti-Trafficking
April 2, 2020: GMP NGO Corona-virus update
Ann Cooney attended this Zoom meeting on the continuing impact of the corona-virus on anti-trafficking services
March 26, 2020: GMP NGO Zoom meeting
Details of the meeting can be found here
March 11, 2020: Homelessness event at Blackburn Library
Caritas Anti-Trafficking contributed to the organising of two events, morning and afternoon, at Blackburn Library aimed at staff and volunteers who work with or have contact with homeless young people and adults. Sion Hall (PLASP Lead), Dawn Walmsley (Blackburn with Darwen Safeguarding Adults/Children Board) and Ed Saville (Clewer) spoke and we also had input from a victim of human trafficking about her own personal experience. Around 50 delegates attended each event.
March 10, 2020: Meeting of clergy and representatives of the Christian churches in Clitheroe
An opportunity to raise the profile of our anti-trafficking work
March 6, 2020: Anti-Trafficking Stations of the Cross interlinked with the experiences of victims of human trafficking (St Michael and St John’s, Clitheroe)
These Stations of the Cross are by Mary O’Malley, Project Coordinator – Human Trafficking at the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM). They are Mary’s experience of encounter with them. All names are changed but the circumstances and gender are real people. You can see the full text here
February 28, 2020: PLASP Meeting
February 25, 2020: PLASP Faith Sub-Group Meeting
Some notes of the meeting can be found here
February 20, 2020: In Plain Sight Follow-on Meeting
Mark Wiggin represented Caritas Anti-Trafficking at this meeting. Full notes of the meeting have not been made public whilst discussions continue but you can see information sent to the delegates who attended the In Plain Sight Conference on October 15 2019 here
February 20, 2020: Meeting with Diocesan Education Department RE Leads
We met with Catherine Moss and Anna Nuttall, Salford, Diocese Education Department Primary and Secondary RE Leads, to discuss modern day slavery input, including County Lines, into Diocesan schools.
Although we don’t know what we can realistically expect of schools within that general aim, the ideal is for all schools to have Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery (HTMS) awareness raising incorporated into the school and built into the curriculum.
During 2020, we want a few pilots, ideally linked with a parish, that can be presented as exemplars within the Diocese and serve to stimulate more action. We need to build up a picture of what a model school would be like to include safeguarding, awareness raising and Catholic Social Teaching.
It was a useful meeting in which we explored how we could access school heads and heads of RE at diocesan level. We were also looking for the opportunities in schools which would best lend themselves to our input. We explored a number of potential schools and people for early contact.
February 17, 2020: Lenten edition of the Beacon
See the anti-trafficking part of the Beacon here
February 12, 2020: Towards a One Church Approach Conference call
A meeting to finalise details for the upcoming meeting with key delegates from the In Plain Sight Conference, on February 20. The February meeting 20 meeting is to take forward plans for Towards a One Church Approach to Human Trafficking which is the term we are currently using to describe our plans for partnership working across the dioceses and Congregations of Religious.
February 12, 2020: Meeting with GMP Challenger
Programme Challenger is Greater Manchester’s partnership response to serious and organised crime. It is made up of many different agencies, who all work together to disrupt and dismantle individuals and networks committing serious crime in Greater Manchester, including running drug lines, exploiting people for financial gain, buying and using firearms, and laundering the money they make from their criminality. Programme Challenger wants to be able to support a wide range of practitioners who are currently playing their part in tackling serious and organised crime. This takes many forms, and covers many specialisms and disciplines, including safeguarding, community safety, trading standards, mental health and social care, to name a few. By better informing practitioners around trends, threats and models of serious and organised crime, Programme Challenger can better equip the workforce across Greater Manchester, and beyond.
Caritas Anti-Trafficking links with Programme Challenger via the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Modern Slavery Response Network NGO Forum.
County Lines’ increasingly high profile has made it clear that it is an issue to be concerned about in our diocesan schools and the meeting was to explore ways of working in partnership. We met with Sian Payne, Partnership Officer for Programme Challenger to exchange information on input to schools.
Programme Challenger use PowerPoint presentations for years 7- 9 along with videos but as GMP covers a number of local education authorities arrangements and delivery will differ. Caritas Anti-Trafficking is exploring materials available via the Clewer Initiative and those being developed by the Medaille Trust. We have also learned that Lancashire County Council has included input on County Lines in standard safeguarding input to primary schools. Sian was interested in our Freedom Bus and Journey to Freedom exhibition. There are clearly opportunities for joint working. Our next steps are to liaise with the Diocesan Education Department and research existing materials
February 8, 2020: the Feast of St Bakhita
See Caritas Anti-Trafficking Newssheet 5 which we put out to parish priests in time for the Feast of St Bakhita
February 7, 2020: Presentation to Caritas Ambassadors
Ann Cooney gave a half hour presentation on the issue of modern day slavery to primary school Caritas Ambassadors. Details later
February 6, 2020: Clewer Initative Conference at Bishopthorpe Castle
A very useful opportunity to network with people, particularly from the Anglican Church, who are working in the field of human trafficking. We had good input from: Bishop Alastair Redfern, Founder and Chair of the Clewer Initiative; Caroline Virgo, Lead Officer for the Clewer Initiative; Steve Forster, Development Officer for the Clewer Initiative; and Sarah Walden, Best Practice Manager at Crisis who spoke about homelessness and the particular problems homeless women face.
Round table discussions focused on issues raised and progress made. We were invited to create a time line for our anti-trafficking work covering the achievements of East Lancashire Police, PLASP and Caritas Anti-Trafficking from 2015.
February 5, 2020: Clitheroe Christians in Partnership
An opportunity to update the Clitheroe Christian community of what we are doing, particular developing a partnership approach following the In Plain Sight conference
January 31, 2020: Northern Dioceses Environmental Group
Although this meeting on the environment had nothing directly to do with human trafficking, six of the fifteen or so people attending were either existing anti-trafficking contacts or active in the field. The problems of mobilizing communities to act against what Pope Francis refers to as structural sin are common to both environment and social justice issues. It was useful to network on anti-trafficking matters with Liverpool Archdiocese, Hallam Diocese and Lancaster Diocese.
January 28, 2020: Daughters of Charity, St Vincent de Paul
We updated Sister Bridie Dowd on the follow on from In Plain Sight conference and developments in Salford Diocese which will hopefully include some direct input for volunteers into schools and parishes as well as awareness raising in homelessness charities.
January 28, 2020: Medaille Trust Look Up Project
In a meeting between the Medaile Trust and Caritas Anti-Trafficking Marc Pearson outlined the Look Up Project , a six-year partnership between the Medaille Trust and the Archdiocese of Birmingham to raise awareness of modern slavery. There are 18 deaneries in the Birmingham Archdiocese and the Medaille Trust aims to cover three deaneries per year with a short talk in each parish.
In addition to heading the Look Up Project Marc manages the 15 Medaille envoys who deliver talks in churches, schools and other venues.
The Medaille are also developing a schools pack for key stages 3 and 4 (11-16 year olds)
Marc noted that the October 15 In Plain Sight conference had been very productive for the Medaille in establishing links with other dioceses. We discussed a range of things that we could work on together: awareness raising input to schools including County Lines, the idea of a pledge, prayer cards and other resources.
January 25, 2020: Rights, dignity & religion: responding to ‘modern slavery’
This one day conference, Understanding the Role of Faith Based Organizations in Anti-trafficking, run by Sheffield University was centred on a three year research project by Sheffield and Leeds Universities:. Caritas Salford was part of the sample of organizations interviewed as part of the research. The summary report can be found here. A full report will come out later.
During the course of the day there were contributions from a total of 37 speakers including Dame Sara Thornton, International Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and the Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern, chair of the Clewer Initiative.
January 23, 2020: PLASP Meeting
See the notes of the meeting here
January 19, 2020: Archdiocese of Liverpool Memorial Lecture 2020
Kevin Hyland gave the keynote address, after which delegates spent 15 minutes each on a choice of two out of twelve tables to learn about and discuss a particular topic of interest. The tables were chaired by: the Santa Marta Group, Caritas Salford, PLASP, the Salvation Army, CSAN, The Brick, a secondary school head of PSHE, Clewer Initiative, the Medaille Trust, City Hearts, Asylum Link Merseyside, Justice and Peace.
January 14, 2020: PLASP Homelessness event meeting
A preliminary meeting to set the scene for an event at Blackburn Museum for delegates from homeless charities to learn about the issue of modern day slavery and what their organizations can do to combat it.
January 11, 2020 Caritas Reps Meeting
Caritas Salford Reps met for the arrangements for Caritas Sunday when all parishes have a collection for the charity. Anti-Trafficking is one of the 22 services and the event was an opportunity to network with reps from other parishes. We made two particularly useful contacts for future working together.
January 6, 2020 Ann Cooney
Ann joined us for induction and briefing at Caritas House. Ann will work for two days per week for the next 12 months.
