I want to stop child slavery in Britain and I believe the government should take the following steps:

• Give more resources and staff to the Paladin Team at Heathrow Airport and expand coverage to other UK entry points - The Paladin Team is a group of police officers and immigration officers dedicated to tackling child trafficking. Its budget comes out of the general - and heavily stretched - Metropolitan Police budget and could easily be cut. Paladin needs independent funding and the resources to build up its presence at other points of entry.
• Organise a major public awareness campaign to encourage people to report suspected cases of child trafficking - Most people remain unaware of the scale of the problem. Like many types of crime, it is a problem we can all tackle together rather than expecting someone else to do the job. If more people are aware, they are more likely to report suspicious cases to the police. That is why the message needs spreading to the general public.
• Sign the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings - The Convention is a comprehensive treaty mainly focused on the protection of victims of trafficking and the safeguard of their rights. It also aims at preventing trafficking as well as prosecuting traffickers. The Convention was adopted and opened for signature in 2005 but the British government has yet to sign.

In addition, I believe that airlines should raise the minimum age for unaccompanied minors - On most airlines, children over the age of 12 can travel unaccompanied (at the full adult fare), with no checks on where they go when they arrive at their destination. If the parents want their children to be accompanied by the airline, they must pay a supplementary fee for every 'flight zone', which puts the price out of the reach of most parents.