Found: I also want to acknowledge the important work you have done as Chair of the APPG on Commercial Sexual

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Minister for Justice on tackling female (a) trafficking, (b) exploitation and (c) sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

Criminal justice is devolved in Northern Ireland, with responsibility for the policy and legislative response to modern slavery resting with the Northern Ireland Executive. However, we recognise that trafficking can involve the movement of vulnerable individuals across borders, and we work closely with our partners in the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that our response to modern slavery across the UK is joined-up and the legislation is complementary.

This includes, at official level, regular engagement with representatives from the Devolved Administrations, through quarterly meetings and the Modern Slavery Engagement Forums. These Forums focus on key policy areas, including enforcement, prevention, adult victim support, and child and victim support policy. Officials also engage in quarterly meetings with representatives on commercial sexual exploitation.

The Home Office also engages with First Responder Organisations, across the whole of the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland this includes the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Health and Social Care trusts and Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid. First Responders are trained by their respective organisations to identify indicators of modern slavery and refer potential victims into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). In 2023, there were 462 NRM referrals sent to the PSNI for investigation, accounting for 3% of all referrals received, as published in the National Referral Mechanism statistics on GOV.UK.

Found: framework will be published in the new year, forming part of the wider approach in tackling wider commercial

Found: Cross -Party Group Annual Return Name of Cross -Party Group Cross -Party Group for Commercial Sexual

Found: a room for an adult placement • people who are victims of human traffi cking and wider forms of Commercial

Found: SB will consider how the commercial sexual exploitation framework ties in.AOB and CloseMinisterial Oversight

Found: demand for prostitution, which is underpinned by a preventative and holistic approach (and tackling commercial

Found: pecific consideration must be given for those who need to flee a tenancy due to domestic abuse or commercial

Found: Thomson (Women’s Support Project) highlighted that the draft was now stronger on the impacts of CSE (commercial

Found: discussion on JSB membership and the need for addition of representation from children and young people’s, commercial

Found: . • commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution, lap dancing, stripping, pornography and

Found: • commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution, lap dancing, stripp ing, pornography .

Found: domestic abuse and FGM) , they do not have them for other forms of VAWG, with a number of areas reporting commercial

Found: the workforce Supports implemen tation of Female and Genital Mutilation Act or work towards ending commercial

Found: support services - support implementation of Female Genital Mut ilation Act or work towards ending commercial

Found: VAW Partnership held a well attended 16 Days event which raised the profile and understanding of Commercial

Found: incest and child sexual abuse; sexual harassment and intimidation at work and in the public sphere; commercial

Found: Within this Strategy , where the abbreviation CSE is used, it refers to commercial sexual exploitation

Found: sexual exploitation.

Found: We recognise the links to wider forms of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and our work to tackle violence

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the multi-agency group on commercial sexual exploitation has been established, and, if so, what the membership of the group is, and whether the remit of the group will include consideration of the criminalisation of the purchase of sex.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

The new multi-agency group on commercial sexual exploitation held its first meeting on 27 March 2024. The membership of the Group includes representatives from the third and public sector. Details about the group can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/commercial-sexual-exploitation/ . It is anticipated that part of the remit of the group will be to help inform the implementation and delivery of our strategic approach to challenging and deterring men’s demand for prostitution.