Colchester City Council refreshes its modern slavery risk assessment every year.
Since April 2016, all tender processes have required bidders to confirm that they comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
An Invitation to Tender (ITT) questionnaire for all potential suppliers, across all industries, should be issued to bidders as part of the modern slavery supplier risk assessment.
If a company cannot confirm that it has taken appropriate steps to identify risks to human rights within its organisation and supply chain, its bid should be excluded from the procurement process.
The Council also asks for links to other organisations’ modern slavery transparency statements in the ITT questionnaire, where the organisation is required to publish one.
When assessing the modern slavery risk of products that have been procured, each component of the product is considered. Transparency in Supply Chain (TISC) statements are requested from suppliers.
For prioritised suppliers, a formal written request is issued asking the supplier to provide information about its approach to tackling modern slavery.
In addition, a contractual clause is included requiring suppliers to have specific approaches to tackling modern slavery in place.
Following a review of our procurement procedures relating to modern slavery, an additional supplier link was added to the Modern slavery training resource page on GOV.UK.
The Council procures goods and services from various suppliers. This is governed by our Procurement Strategy.