The Co-operative Party received the Del Singh Memorial Award at the Labour Party conference for its work on the Charter Against Modern Slavery. The award aims to recognise the best campaign by a Labour-affiliated organisation.
Local government officer Emma Hoddinott, and Labour/Co-op councillor and Co-op Group Members’ Council president Nick Crofts, received the award on behalf of the Party.
The charter seeks to tackle modern slavery though local government procurement. Local authorities in England spend around £40bn per year procuring goods and services. The charter commits councils to vetting their own supply chains to ensure no instances of modern slavery are taking place. Thirty councils are already implementing the charter.
The memorial award is named after Del Singh, a Labour Party activist and aid worker who was murdered in 2014 in a Taliban bomb attack in Kabul.
Presenting the award, Labour Party general secretary, Jenny Formby, said the charter points included trade union recognition, whistleblowing policies for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery and a commitment to challenge abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they did not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery.
“Around 5.6 million people now live in areas where their council is tackling modern slavery in their supply chain,” she added.
