Modern slavery cases reported on the rise in London

The number of potential modern slavery victims referred to UK authorities reached its highest level in 2024 since records began in 2009. Between July and September, 1,168 potential victims were referred to the Metropolitan Police for investigation, 339 of whom were children. Labour and criminal exploitation are the most common forms reported, with victims forced into activities like cannabis cultivation. The UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to report on efforts to eradicate slavery from their supply chains. While considered world-leading at its inception, there are now calls for the legislation to move beyond transparency reports and legally require companies to perform due diligence on their supply chains to take action. The government has also committed to publishing its own modern slavery statement for its central supply chains. This issue of corporate responsibility exists within a thriving London tech ecosystem, which remains Europe's top hub for AI. London-based AI startups raised a record $3.5 billion in VC funding in 2024, a 52% increase from 2023. Major late-stage funding rounds in the second half of 2024 included commercial intelligence platform Lighthouse, which raised a $370m Series C, and crypto e-commerce company Boom Technologies, which secured $500m. Within the AI sector, a key trend for enterprise is the development of AI agents and agentic workflows. Unlike chatbots which are reactive, AI agents are designed to be autonomous, using reasoning and task planning to execute complex, multi-step processes across different systems with minimal human input. This technology is viewed as the next evolution of enterprise automation, capable of handling end-to-end workflows in areas like finance and customer support. In the advertising technology space, programmatic ad spending continues to dominate, accounting for around