On Friday 31st January, over 250 colleagues from key stakeholders across the food industry came together to discuss the challenge of preventing Modern Slavery.
The event was attended by growers, processors, fresh food business, retailers, NGO's and government officials. With keynote speakers including Dame Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Lucy Frazer QC MP, Minister of Justice and Paul Willgoss, Director of Food Technology, M&S.
The event was hosted by G's and sponsored by the NFU - the purpose of the event was to bring the food industry together to identify how we could all work better together to prevent Modern Slavery.
Operation Fort, one of the UK's biggest modern slavery rings, was discussed from a number of industry perspectives and delegates had the opportunity to get high level insight from Detective Superintendent Nick Dale who led the police investigation and discuss the impact on both victims and stakeholders throughout the regulatory and commercial supply chains.
A key action from the conference was a commitment from Paul Willgoss and John Shropshire to convene a working group to explore the development of a cross sector intelligence sharing platform on Modern Slavery.
A number of leading food business have already expressed their support for the project which will be developed over the coming months.
Commenting of the event Beverly Dixon, G’s Group HR Director:
“The number of people who attended the conference and the distances they travelled were testament to the importance we all place on the need to work together to prevent modern slavery. There was a real sense of purpose and urgency in the room as we seek to work better together”
For more information:
Anthony Gardiner
G's
anthony.gardiner@gs-fresh.com