To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures have been put in place this year to combat human trafficking; and what impact they have had. [HL6102]

The UK has a comprehensive victim-centred strategy to combat trafficking, contained in the UK action plan on tackling human trafficking. The action plan was most recently updated on 19 October 2009. The update specifically details the progress that has been made over the past year, and outlines plans for the year ahead.

Notably, on 17 December 2008, the UK ratified the Council of Europe Convention against trafficking, and implemented it from 1 April 2009. This represents a milestone in our fight against trafficking. It improves provisions for victim protection and enforcement capabilities.

The most recent action plan details 38 actions to tackle trafficking across four key areas of: prevention, investigation/law enforcement/and prosecution, providing protection and assistance to adult victims of trafficking, and child victims.