Modern Day Slavery Statement

This statement is made pursuant to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that Trinity Academy Newcastle Multi Academy Trust (TAN MAT) has taken, and is continuing to take, to make sure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain during the year ending 31 March 2024.

Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour. TAN MAT has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to putting effective systems and controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the Trust or our supply chain.

Our Policies on Slavery and Human Trafficking

TAN MAT is aware of our responsibilities towards service users, employees and the local community and expects all suppliers to the Trust to adhere to the same ethical principles. We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.

Our internal policies replicate our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships. The Trust’s contract specifications contain a provision around Good Industry Practice to ensure each supplier’s commitment to anti-slavery and human trafficking in their supply chains; and that they conduct their businesses in a manner that is consistent with TAN MAT’s anti-slavery policy. In addition, an increasing number of suppliers are implementing the Labour Standards Assurance System (LSAS) as a condition of contract for tenders within high risk sectors and product categories and indeed this has been referenced in the Government’s Modern Slavery Strategy. Many aspects of the LSAS align to the seven reporting areas that the Government has outlined and should appear within any slavery and human trafficking statement. We operate a number of internal policies which ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. These include:

• Recruitment - We operate a robust recruitment policy, including conducting eligibility to work in the United Kingdom checks for all directly employed staff. Agencies on approved frameworks are audited to provide assurance that pre-employment clearance has been obtained for agency staff, to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will
•  Equal Opportunities - We have a range of controls to protect staff from poor treatment and/or exploitation, which complies with all respective laws and regulations. These include provision of fair pay rates, fair terms and conditions of employment, and fair access to training and development opportunities
• Safeguarding - We adhere to the principles inherent within both our safeguarding children and adults’ policies. These are compliant and provide clear guidance so that our employees are clear on how to raise safeguarding concerns about how colleagues or service users are being treated, or about practices within our business or supply chain.
• Whistleblowing - We operate a whistleblowing/raising concerns policy so that everyone in our employment knows that they can raise concerns about how colleagues or people receiving our services are being treated, or about practices within our business or supply chain, without fear of reprisals, and the various ways in which they can raise their concerns.
• Standards of business conduct - This code explains the manner in which we behave as an organisation and how we expect our employees and suppliers to act. Our approach to procurement and our supply chain includes:
  • Ensuring that our suppliers are carefully selected through our robust supplier selection criteria/processes
  • Requiring that the main contractor provides details of its sub-contractor(s) to enable the Trust to check their credentials
  • Randomly request that the main contractor provide details of its supply chain
  • Ensuring invitation to tender documents contain a clause on human rights issues
  • Ensuring invitation to tender documents also contains clauses giving the Trust the right to terminate a contract for failure to comply with labour laws
  • Using the standard Supplier Selection Questionnaire that has been introduced (which includes a section on Modern Day Slavery)
  • Trust staff must contact and work with the Procurement department when looking to work with new suppliers so appropriate checks can be undertaken.
  • Supplier adherence to our values. We are zero tolerant to slavery and human trafficking and thereby expect all our direct and indirect suppliers/contractors to follow suit.
  • Where it is verified that a subcontractor has breached the child labour laws or human trafficking, then this subcontractor will be excluded in accordance with Regulation 57 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Trust will require that the main contractor substitute a new subcontractor.

Training Advice and training about modern slavery and human trafficking is available to staff through our mandatory safeguarding children and adults training programmes, our safeguarding policies and procedures, and our safeguarding leads.

It is also discussed at our induction training which is mandatory for all our new starters. We are looking at ways to continuously increase awareness within our organisation, and to ensure a high level of understanding of the risks involved with modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and in our business.