Training the Trainer Conference – Taking positive action against modern slavery in Bedfordshire

16 October, Moggerhanger Park, Bedfordshire

by Pauline Panter & Rita Beaumont, SI Bedford

"This conference was organised and supported by Bedfordshire Against
Modern Slavery (BAMS), which was formed in 2012 to highlight and tackle modern
slavery. The founder members were Kristy Adams, previously a Bedford borough
councillor, a senior police office and two members of SI Bedford, Rita and
Pauline. The aim of the conference was to continue to raise aware and assist ‘first responders’ to understand their responsibilities especially in
relation to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), enabling them to begin to
cascade information to their work teams as part of in house training
programmes.  It was fortuitous that the day we choose for
our conference was the very day that Kevin Hyland (Independent Anti-Slavery
Commissioner), launched his strategy to tackle modern slavery.

Photo: The BAMS Team – Left to Right: Kirsty Adams, DCI David Cestaro (Bedfordshire Police), Pauline Panter and Rita Beaumont, SI Bedford.

Paul Connop from the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC), started the day and gave a splendid presentation regarding the work of his
agency, together with an excellent overview of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Paul spoke about the situational and environmental indicators of modern slavery, in addition to factual and investigative indicators; giving some examples of
different types of modern slavery that the UKHTC had encountered, and the action
taken. We were all moved by his narrative regarding a young very vulnerable man
from Wales, who was enslaved by travellers on a horse breeding site from 2000-2013, before eventually being freed by police.

Diane Payne, The Programme Development
Manager from the Salvation Army was our second speaker and continued in the
same vein – outlining the work of the Salvation Army with regard to Modern Slavery.
Diane spoke of Salvation
Army’s work with regard to human trafficking and slavery, which commenced in
1885, working with young prostitutes in London and beyond. Since 2011, the
Salvation Army has been the prime contractor for managing the support for adult
victims of trafficking in England and Wales, and now includes modern slavery.
Diane spoke expertly about the referral time lines, the impact of trafficking,
indicators and NFM. Diane engaged with the delegates throughout the
presentation and her session was also well received.

DCI David Cestaro from Bedfordshire
Police gave a small but perfectly formed presentation regarding the present
situation in Bedfordshire, including three recent police operations undertaken.
The first two were at traveller sites in which over fifteen vulnerable men were rescued and
the perpetrators given long prison sentences, and one, a brothel, in which five
Eastern European women were rescued recently.

Tatiana Jardan The Director of Human
Trafficking Foundation provided an overview of the work of the foundation,
especially the networking amongst the various organisations and charities it
facilitates. Tatiana also spoke about the modern slavery exhibition, that is now
stored at Moggerhanger Park.

At lunch time when the delegates were all visiting the anti-slavery exhibition,
Kevin Hyland arrived and took advantage of the quiet to grab a coffee and some
lunch before his presentation. It was good to catch up with him and hear a
little about his future plans, he made particular reference to all the work
undertaken by Soroptimists and expressed his thanks and admiration for the
organisation. He certainly knows all about us and remembers meeting us at CSW59
in NY last year, and of the projects we are involved with across the world.

Kevin Hyland OBE, Independent
Anti-Slavery Commissioner, delivered a brilliant presentation beginning with
his view of the International scene and how we must tackle modern slavery at
source, and his plans for doing this by working with Governments, NGOs and others
across the world. He stated: "There appears to be indications of systemic
under-recording and misreporting in statistics compiled by the police and other
agencies. All of this suggests that the true picture may be even worse than the
current figures indicate". Kevin also gave us an overview of his new strategy
and his work with The Pope, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe (Commissioner of London
Metropolitan Police), church leaders and police in the Santa Marta Group,
tackling human slavery and supporting survivors. Once again, every one present
will remember his presentation from a narrative regarding a survivor who just
wanted a hug from the Pope – and that’s exactly what she received when Pope Francis
visited a centre she was attending. Kevin started and finished his session with
a William Wilberforce quote: "You
may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not
know".

We were all inspired
and energised by Kevin’s presentation and we look forward to continuing to work
with him in the future, in tackling modern slavery. His strategy is well
thought out, but will require additional funding and man power resources in
order to succeed. Let’s hope he achieves this.

Andrew Selous, MP Prisons and Probation
Minister, gave a brief account of the Governments journey towards creating
the New Modern Slavery Legislation. We were also unexpectedly joined by Olly
Martin, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, who also spoke a
little about the work of Bedfordshire police, and the challenges of funding.

During the afternoon a film crew from Bedfordshire Police joined the conference
to film material for a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ series to be screened at a later date on
BBC4, showing the work of Bedfordshire Police.

Opting to use Moggerhanger Park for our anti-slavery conference was a conscious
decision because of its strong links with William Wilberforce via the Thornton
family, who owned the house previously. There are three anti-slavery exhibitions
based at Moggerhanger including the one that was recently displayed in The
House Of Commons. Delegates were able to visit the exhibitions at lunch time.

In all it was a great but exhausting day! 
Rita and I were supported and assisted by two of our SI Bedford colleagues,
Margaret Badley who did a great job with the technical issues and photograph, and our President, Pauline Stewart, who assisted in booking in, networking and much
more. Our thanks to them both and I hope they realise there is much more to
come!"

Pauline and Rita