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<p>As a result of the world-leading provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we
have seen thousands of transparency statements published and businesses are now more
focused on this issue than ever before. The legislation was designed to harness pressure
from civil society and we are pleased that NGOs are using company statements to hold
businesses to account, including contacting businesses that have not yet published
statements.</p><p>The Government does not monitor compliance with section 54 of the
Modern Slavery Act 2015. Two independent repository websites have been set up to collate
these statements. The Government is not involved in running or funding either website.
Both websites make different estimates of the total number of statements published
so far. The latest estimates can be accessed online at <a href="http://www.modernslaveryregistry.org/"
target="_blank">http://www.modernslaveryregistry.org/</a> and <a href="https://tiscreport.org/"
target="_blank">https://tiscreport.org/</a></p><p>The Government has strengthened
guidance for businesses and recently wrote to over 10,000 businesses that may be required
to publish statements reminding them of their obligations and providing useful resources.
We expect this activity will further increase the number of statements published.</p><p>In
October the Government also launched a new ‘Business Against Slavery Forum’. This
aims to establish a new partnership between Government and business to accelerate
progress in tackling modern slavery. It will focus on sharing best practice and building
new initiatives to tackle modern slavery, including improving business engagement
with the Modern Slavery Act</p>
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