Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Gower.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all of the levers available to us to deliver this.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators, and we are working closely with the voluntary and community sector to help victims. We have several ways to estimate the scale of sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation make up a significant proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support). The most recent statistics show that in 2023, sexual exploitation accounted for 10% (1,679) of all referrals, a 2% increase from the previous year, with 9% (1,470) of referrals relating to women. The Home Office does not hold data specific to Gower. However, between January and June 2024, there were 7 potential victims of modern slavery referred to the NRM who reported (either part or whole) sexual exploitation which was disclosed as occurring in West Glamorgan.
To help support people at risk of being sexually exploited, Changing Lives has received £1.36m from the Home Office over three years (2022-2025) for their Net-Reach project, which provides online outreach, early intervention and intensive support for women and girls at high-risk of exploitation and abuse.
In addition, the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes a support worker to help them access support services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
Online platforms are a significant enabler of sexual exploitation. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the PNC system in apprehending wanted individuals at airports.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This Government has been clear that we will strengthen our border security, undertaking thorough checks to prevent serious criminals from entering the UK. Border Force and Police work closely together to protect UK security, and our border systems identify individuals wanted on the PNC.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times (a) Ministers and (b) officials from her Department have met representatives of Vivastreet (i) online and (ii) in person since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we use all our levers to deliver this.
The advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and we know that adult service websites are now the most significant enabler of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Online platforms need to be responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
We must ensure law enforcement use every tool to pursue perpetrators and that victims are supported to recover from this horrendous abuse. The Government is working closely with policing and others to help tackle the drivers, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.
Prostitution more broadly is an extremely complex issue and there are a wide range of potential approaches. We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation which can be associated with it and ensuring that people who want to leave are given every opportunity to find routes out.
Home Office Ministers and officials have not had any meetings with Vivastreet since the General Election on 4th July 2024. There are no plans to publish minutes or other written records of previous meetings with Vivastreet as these meetings were informal in nature and no minutes or records were taken.
This government will ensure adult sexual exploitation is part of our VAWG.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce demand for (a) prostitution and (b) trafficking for sexual exploitation by men who pay for sex.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we use all our levers to deliver this.
The advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and we know that adult service websites are now the most significant enabler of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Online platforms need to be responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
We must ensure law enforcement use every tool to pursue perpetrators and that victims are supported to recover from this horrendous abuse. The Government is working closely with policing and others to help tackle the drivers, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.
Prostitution more broadly is an extremely complex issue and there are a wide range of potential approaches. We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation which can be associated with it and ensuring that people who want to leave are given every opportunity to find routes out.
Home Office Ministers and officials have not had any meetings with Vivastreet since the General Election on 4th July 2024. There are no plans to publish minutes or other written records of previous meetings with Vivastreet as these meetings were informal in nature and no minutes or records were taken.
This government will ensure adult sexual exploitation is part of our VAWG.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the (a) minutes and (b) other contemporaneous written records made by officials of all meetings between her Department and Vivastreet since 2017.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we use all our levers to deliver this.
The advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and we know that adult service websites are now the most significant enabler of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Online platforms need to be responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
We must ensure law enforcement use every tool to pursue perpetrators and that victims are supported to recover from this horrendous abuse. The Government is working closely with policing and others to help tackle the drivers, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.
Prostitution more broadly is an extremely complex issue and there are a wide range of potential approaches. We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation which can be associated with it and ensuring that people who want to leave are given every opportunity to find routes out.
Home Office Ministers and officials have not had any meetings with Vivastreet since the General Election on 4th July 2024. There are no plans to publish minutes or other written records of previous meetings with Vivastreet as these meetings were informal in nature and no minutes or records were taken.
This government will ensure adult sexual exploitation is part of our VAWG.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the role of websites advertising prostitution in facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we use all our levers to deliver this.
The advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and we know that adult service websites are now the most significant enabler of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Online platforms need to be responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
We must ensure law enforcement use every tool to pursue perpetrators and that victims are supported to recover from this horrendous abuse. The Government is working closely with policing and others to help tackle the drivers, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.
Prostitution more broadly is an extremely complex issue and there are a wide range of potential approaches. We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation which can be associated with it and ensuring that people who want to leave are given every opportunity to find routes out.
Home Office Ministers and officials have not had any meetings with Vivastreet since the General Election on 4th July 2024. There are no plans to publish minutes or other written records of previous meetings with Vivastreet as these meetings were informal in nature and no minutes or records were taken.
This government will ensure adult sexual exploitation is part of our VAWG.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who would be deterred from paying for sex if it was outlawed.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has committed to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we use all our levers to deliver this.
The advertising of sexual services has increasingly moved online, and we know that adult service websites are now the most significant enabler of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Online platforms need to be responsible and accountable for content on their sites and take proactive steps to prevent their sites being used by criminals. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and companies will need to adopt measures and put in place systems and processes to identify, assess and address these offences based on a risk assessment.
We must ensure law enforcement use every tool to pursue perpetrators and that victims are supported to recover from this horrendous abuse. The Government is working closely with policing and others to help tackle the drivers, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators.
Prostitution more broadly is an extremely complex issue and there are a wide range of potential approaches. We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation which can be associated with it and ensuring that people who want to leave are given every opportunity to find routes out.
Home Office Ministers and officials have not had any meetings with Vivastreet since the General Election on 4th July 2024. There are no plans to publish minutes or other written records of previous meetings with Vivastreet as these meetings were informal in nature and no minutes or records were taken.
This government will ensure adult sexual exploitation is part of our VAWG.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 548 on Prostitution: Gower, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of the harms of paying for sex among men.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Protecting those involved in prostitution from harm is part of our wider work to halve the level of violence against woman and girls.
This government will use every lever available to us to prevent the harms that prostituted women often experience.
We will work with law enforcement and charity organisations to deliver this.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce demand for trafficking for sexual exploitation in Gower constituency.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The trafficking of woman and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. We are determined to safeguard victims and to bring the ruthless perpetrators of this crime to justice.
We are working closely with law enforcement partners and the devolved administrations to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators and implementing the Online Safety Act 2023 so online companies fulfil their duty to eradicate this exploitation from their sites.
We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation associated with prostitution. This Government will work closely with the voluntary and community sector to ensure that those who want to leave are able to.
The Home Office is funding a three-year project by Changing Lives to tackle violence against women and girls online, which includes providing early intervention and support for women and girls at high risk of commercial online exploitation.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support the Government is providing to help people in Gower exit prostitution.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The trafficking of woman and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. We are determined to safeguard victims and to bring the ruthless perpetrators of this crime to justice.
We are working closely with law enforcement partners and the devolved administrations to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target perpetrators and implementing the Online Safety Act 2023 so online companies fulfil their duty to eradicate this exploitation from their sites.
We are committed to making our streets safer by tackling the harm and exploitation associated with prostitution. This Government will work closely with the voluntary and community sector to ensure that those who want to leave are able to.
The Home Office is funding a three-year project by Changing Lives to tackle violence against women and girls online, which includes providing early intervention and support for women and girls at high risk of commercial online exploitation.