Making our communities safer
Protecting vulnerable people against modern slavery
Councils
Oxford City Council
Oxford City Council has been taking measures in partnership with others to end the unacceptable exploitation and inhumane treatment of vulnerable people. Oxford City Council set up Hotel Watch, which trains hoteliers to spot the signs of exploitation, including child sexual exploitation and modern slavery, and what to do if they believe something suspicious is happening. More than 80 hotels, guest houses and B&B’s support the scheme. The council has also introduced mandatory safeguarding training for all taxi drivers that it licenses to operate in the city, and worked with neighboring districts to roll this training out to all taxi drivers across Oxfordshire. In addition, the council’s community safety team innovated the idea of the Independent Trauma Adviser (ITA) role – a role which delivers crisis intervention for new victims and offers ongoing support and advocacy for victims. An Oxford charity has delivered this service to more than 50 victims over two years and intensively supported 31 to escape their situation.