Modern Slavery Risk Questionnaire

This questionnaire provides:

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A quick, efficient and secure way to assess your suppliers’ approach to Modern Slavery in their supply chains, and Risk Scores based on countries of operation and materials used.

• Risk scoring based on the 2018 Global Slavery Index Slavery Vulnerability Model data and US Department of Labor List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (2018) data for high risk countries and materials.

• An auditable set of records that evidence a systematic approach to modern slavery risk questionnaire for regulators or auditors.

• A starting point for subsequent inspection and future investigation.

• If you are new to Modern Slavery risk management, this Questionnaire provides you with an external, index-based starting point for your programme. If you have a well-developed Ethical Trade programme, it can speed up assurance and improve response rates.

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How this standard questionnaire was developed

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There is a significant pool of guidance notes from Governments and NGOs that lay out specific rules and best practices which this Questionnaire has been based on, such as Ethical Trading Initiative’s Managing Risks Associated with Modern Slavery: A Good Practice Note for the Private Sector.

Specifically, the Global Slavery Index 2018, and the US Department of Labor data on List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (2018), have been strong sources for much of the data used in location and materials related questions.

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Questions, sections and scoring

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The structure of the Modern Slavery Questionnaire consists of an initial section requesting general information about the company, such as for locations and materials. The Questionnaire then covers potential indicators of forced labour, gathering information about the specific governance of modern slavery of the company in question, their stance on forced labour risk in their supply chains, as well as cross-checking a list of high risk goods and origins they trade in. The next section covers the specific and primary indicators of modern slavery within the business and their supply chains. The final sections cover information about their code of practice, laws and standards.

The questionnaire is scored on a tiered basis – answers can be provided that are either scored: Okay, Low-, Medium- or High-risk throughout parts of the questionnaire. In particular, locations based questions are scored according to their vulnerability rating in the GSI or through preselected risk-related goods and origins provided by the US Department of Labor. The question scores are summed and the questionnaire score is calculated as a fraction of the maximum possible. A report will highlight remediation actions needed to reduce their overall risk level.

Organisations will still need to check that the answers given by their Suppliers are verifiable and evidenced.