News / Modern Slavery
The pioneering Bristol initiative tackling modern slavery
Bristol is a front runner in the global movement to drive out modern slavery and exploitation, thanks to the work of a ground-breaking initiative.
Transparency in Supply Chains register (TISCreport), a Broad Street-based social enterprise committed to ending the illegal practice, has launched a live transparency map that collates real-time information for the UK’s cities, councils, districts and boroughs.
The aim is to vastly improve compliance of organisations and drive modern slavery and exploitation out of supply chains by using the data to increase transparency, and thus, accountability.
is needed now More than ever
Image of the live transparency map that documents the supply chain activity of cities, councils, districts and boroughs across the UK
“The days of tick box compliance are numbered,” says Jaya Chakrabarti MBE, CEO of TISCreport, which is the world’s largest register of its kind.
“Transparency data is everywhere if you know where to look and what to query. It’s live, rapidly changing and shows patterns that are otherwise hidden by companies with clever accountants.”
A year ago, Chakrabarti presented the state of compliance with section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act in Westminster to politicians and key industry leaders. She says “it was fair to say that, bar a handful of exemplars, the level and quality of compliance was as variable as it was poor”.
Jaya Chakrabarti says the days of tick box compliance are numbered
A lot has changed in 12 months: there is now a review of the Modern Slavery Act, with a focus on the Section 54 transparency clause, and global leaders – including the UK Government – are pledging to eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains.
Crucially to seeing these promises through, TISCreport’s live transparency map tracks real data and showcases the potential power that has, until recently, lain dormant within the UK’s local government procurement budgets.
Members of the public can now see how their cities, counties, districts and boroughs are using the buying leverage afforded by public funds to drive modern slavery and labour exploitation out of their supply chains.
The TISCreport platform enables 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.
Marvin Rees says cities need to lead the way to create the change that we want to see in our society
Commenting on the launch of the map, mayor Marvin Rees said: “Back in 2015, Bristol was the first city to commit to supply chain transparency on TISCreport, after a small social enterprise with a global vision asked an important question.
“Later this month, Bristol will be hosting both the Global Parliament of Mayors annual summit and the first meeting of the UK’s Core Cities and combined authority leaders to discuss how we can work together to tackle shared challenges.
“We know that cities need to collaborate and lead the way if we are going to be able to create the change that we want to see in our society. By committing to this initiative we have shown that we believe in the importance of transparency and I look forward to seeing this become a global movement.”
Hundreds of cities have now followed Bristol’s lead and there are just under 200,000 live supplier relationships being monitored from the UK’s local government bodies alone by the map, with significantly more private sector suppliers globally.
Stuart Gallemore, CTO of TISCreport, says: “By making this data transparent for UK cities to use, we are already changing behaviours.
“It’s important to note that labour exploitation and modern slavery are in every supply chain. Proactive cities are using live transparency data to tackle these issues.”
Chakrabarti adds that the data focuses on cities rather than countries, because they are able to react and make decisions more quickly than governments.
Anyone can see how their city is faring on public sector supply chain transparency by clicking on their city on www.tiscreport.org/public-sector/uk-transparency-report/.
Read more: Bristol-based charity highlights stark reality of modern slavery
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