With regard to the Government response to the transparency in supply chains consultation, the newsletter of 2 October announced that the Government will be introducing the below changes. For clarity, the newsletter should have said that changes 2 and 3 will be on behalf of England, Wales and Scotland, and that Scotland will consult separately on the extension of section 54 to public bodies (change 1 below). As per the original newsletter, Northern Ireland will consult separately. These changes will require legislative change and will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

1. We will extend section 54 to public bodies with a budget of £36m or more.
2. We will introduce mandatory reporting topics, to incentivise progress in key areas. This approach is designed to maintain flexibility while also incentivising better quality and more detailed reporting.
3. We will require statements to be published on the new Government reporting service by a single reporting deadline each year, to drive compliance and empower investors, consumers and civil society to scrutinise action taken.

Modern Slavery Unit