Monday, 26 November 2018

TISCreport’s live UK transparency Map now shows slavery and labour exploitation hotspots across the UK using real information derived from the Modern Slavery Helpline. This is overlaid on the cities, counties, districts and boroughs supplier compliance data.
https://tiscreport.org/public-sector/uk-transparency-report/.

At the beginning of Anti-Slavery Month (October 2018) TISCreport published the UK’s first live Transparency Map online. This easy to use tool showcased the potential power that has until recently lain dormant within the UK’s local government procurement budgets. In short their system allowed all public bodies to quickly check their suppliers in terms of compliance with the modern slavery act, thus to be fully informed when choosing where and with whom to spend public funds. This means that without expending any extra taxpayers money, simply by being intelligently selective about public spending, Councils can help drive out slavery and exploitation.

What’s more, in addition to checking their own Councils spending all members of the public can now also clearly see what proportion of calls to the UK Modern Slavery Helpline are originating from their local areas (cities, counties, districts and boroughs), and how that translates to the proportion of potential victims[1]. This pinpoint transparency will further assist public services to coordinate and target their resources by looking closely at each hotspot.

Jaya Chakrabarti MBE, CEO of TISCreport says: “Thanks to the Home Office enabling a civil society response to the monitoring of Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act, we and our open data partners have been able to join forces with our charity partners at the UK Modern Slavery Helpline to start to make the issue really clear in the minds of all those still grappling with understanding it. Labour exploitation and modern slavery are not just crimes that occur in far-away countries. We have victims right here, right now. An informative live map that purely presents the facts can help bring this alive for many who just can’t imagine what is going on right on their doorsteps.”

Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability Victoria Atkins said:

"It is horrible to think some of the goods and services we buy could have been produced by someone forced into modern slavery. This is abhorrent and as global leaders in the fight against modern slavery, we will not tolerate it.

“To eradicate this crime from our communities and economy it is crucial that Government, businesses and society work together. I am delighted to see live data initiatives like the TISCreport map shining a light on those local areas that are stepping up their efforts to address the risks of modern slavery.”

Justine Currell, Director of the UK Modern Slavery Helpline says: “Initiatives such as this will be the catalyst for action, providing an informed picture of modern slavery and transparency like we have never seen before. I am proud to partner with TISCreport, showing how unique data sets can unlock the key to better understanding and preventing exploitative situations.”

Says Stuart Gallemore, CTO of TISCreport, “When we started last month we had just over 200k live supplier relationships being monitored from the UK’s local government bodies. We now have closer to 500k relationships and growing, in less than 8 weeks. Momentum is gathering and with it, we hope the positive impact.”

Anyone can see how their city is faring on public sector supply chain transparency by clicking on their city or district on https://tiscreport.org/public-sector/uk-transparency-report/. Rather than being a static snapshot, many other live transparency data sets will be added to this map, making it the best available picture of transparency of cities in the UK, using unique data sets that are not held anywhere else.

The TISCreport platform enables all ethical buyers across all sectors to quickly check their supply chains for available corporate transparency data. By uploading their suppliers from their systems, public sector buyers can maintain the transparency of their supply chains, and they can check modern slavery act compliance all at zero cost to the taxpayer.

FURTHER INFORMATION & NOTES

About TISCreport

*TISCreport is the UK’s only Transparency in Supply Chains register, built to UK Government Digital Service specifications using UK Government digital infrastructure.

In accordance with section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act TISCreport tracks websites of all those companies and groups known by the system to be over £36M in turnover as well as recording voluntary compliance from organisations below the threshold.

The TISCreport dynamic dataset is continually being updated, and there are just under 1000 UK public bodies within the system. It is a certified open data provider, free to join, enabling an in-depth drill down of data against shared supply chains via a private, secure dashboard. Uniquely, beyond the UK, TISCreport interlocks intelligently with related global legislations focussing on supply chain transparency and tackling modern slavery/labour exploitation. More transparency data sets are in the pipeline which will enable cities, districts and boroughs to hone in on labour exploitation within their supply chains.

As a B-Corp[2] social enterprise, TISCreport funds itself through subscription fees from organisations able to afford the £200 annual subscription fee and transparency data services. 50% of the subscription fee goes directly to anti-slavery charity Unseen, which runs the UK Anti-Slavery Helpline. All fully paid memberships subscribed before 3rd December 2018 will enable TISCreport donations to be matched via The Big Give[3].

References
[1] There is no risk to ongoing investigations or victims as the helpline data held on TISCreport is anonymised and redacted.

[2] http://bcorporation.uk/

[3] https://secure.thebiggive.org.uk/challenge/faqs/online


Contact Information
For further information or to arrange an interview please contact Jaya Chakrabarti at TISCreport.org.
Tel: +44 (0) 117 9273113
email: press@tiscreport.org