The Government ratified the Council of Europe convention on action against the trafficking of human beings on 17 December 2008 as part of its wider strategy set out in ‘UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking’ and published in March 2007. In December 2007 the DCSF and Home Office jointly published guidance on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who may have been trafficked.
Early identification is the key to protecting these vulnerable children, DCSF is therefore working with the Home Office and key stakeholders to develop a toolkit to help front line staff recognise the potential indicators of trafficking as part of a new National Referral Mechanism (NRM) being set up under the convention to protect all victims of trafficking.
In addition to this the DCSF has provided substantial funding for ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) to deliver training on child trafficking to front line practitioners dealing with children who may have been trafficked.