John Gummer on modern slavery in public procurement

Many UK companies with big public procurement contracts do not comply with their reporting obligations

John Gummer – Lord Deben – chairman of Sancroft, outlines to Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh the main findings from recent research into modern slavery in public procurement in the UK that finds over 40% of the top 100 companies in terms of value of public contracts are non-compliant with the UK Modern Slavery Act. They debate the pros and cons of a greater due diligence approach to reporting on slavery and forced labour. They also discuss plastics pollution and what business and government must do together for best impact to help solve the problem.