Found: · Suffolk’s transformative approach to prostitution, which involved supporting women to exit prostitution
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
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.
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 our levers available to deliver.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through operational intensifications to target prolific perpetrators.
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.
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.
To help support victims, we are providing £1.36m over three years to Changing Lives for their Net-Reach project, which provides early intervention and targeted support for women and girls at high-risk of commercial exploitation. We are also providing £378,811 to Trevi Women who provide trauma-informed support to women wishing to exit on-street prostitution.
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 financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
Home Office Ministers regularly meet with stakeholders, including NGOs and law enforcement partners, to promote the better identification and prosecution of perpetrators, and to enhance support for victims who are trapped within commercial sexual exploitation under the guise of prostitution.
The Government will set out policies in this area in due course.
Found: · Individuals involved in sexual exploitation and prostitution endure physical and sexual violence
Found: proportion of the population involved in prostitution.
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.
Found: Talita calls on the UK to criminalize websites that facilitate or profit from prostitution (NC1).
Found: V iolence and exploitation are inherent in prostitution.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce demand for trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is, with a commitment to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats, and targeting prolific perpetrators.
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 between July to September 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (697) of all referrals sent to police forces in England and Wales for investigation. Of these, the majority were for females (76%; 528).
Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.
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.
The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
The Government will continue to keep policies to tackle sexual exploitation under review.
Asked by: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of commercial sexual exploitation in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is, with a commitment to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published next year.
The Government is working closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of trafficking for sexual exploitation, including through law enforcement operational intensifications aimed at tackling modern slavery threats, and targeting prolific perpetrators.
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 between July to September 2024, sexual exploitation (either partly or wholly) accounted for 17% (697) of all referrals sent to police forces in England and Wales for investigation. Of these, the majority were for females (76%; 528).
Available academic research on prostitution highlights the challenges in estimating prevalence. Research conducted by the University of Bristol focusing on England and Wales was unable to identify a single prevalence estimate. However, it assessed a number of existing national estimates made over the last 20 years which ranged from 35,882 to 104,964, across England and Wales.
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.
The Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract provides support to adult potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. This support includes financial support and a support worker to help them access wider services, including medical treatment, legal aid, legal representatives, and legal advice.
The Government will continue to keep policies to tackle sexual exploitation under review.
Mentions:
1: None for commercial sexual services fuels the exploitation of women who are forced or coerced into prostitution - Speech Link