Child Prostitution (Hansard, 23 February 2000)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the Government have a well-developed agenda of action to prevent children from becoming involved in prostitution, to divert children out of prostitution and to re-integrate them into society. That includes the publication in the spring of new guidance on children involved in prostitution. In the summer, we shall be publishing our national plan to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

§ Lord Hylton
My Lords, I thank the Minister for what I am sure is intended to be a helpful reply on a very serious matter. Does he agree that more than mere guidance is needed? Will he also accept that, so far, the criminal justice system has by and large failed to protect a very vulnerable group of people? Will the Government therefore ask police and prosecutors to act more strongly against pimps and other exploiters and abusers so as to bring them to justice?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the noble Lord speaks with great wisdom and knowledge in this area. He touches on part of the weakness in the current system. It is for that reason that we have given careful consideration to the guidance. In its new form, it will stress the need to pursue with the utmost severity pimps in particular and others who exploit children in prostitution. The guidance has been carefully drawn up in consultation with the police and the CPS, who fully support that approach. Our new guidance, Working together to safeguard children, published in January, makes it clear that local protocols should be developed under the child prostitution guidance to protect children in prostitution, and that that should be entirely consistent with area child protection committee procedures for safeguarding children. We should also pay tribute to the important work undertaken in this field by the NSPCC and particularly by Barnardo's, with its "streets and lanes project", which is now beginning to divert young children, particularly young girls, away from prostitution.

§ Lord Davies of Coity
My Lords, is my noble friend the Minister aware of recent media reports concerning the enormous influx of prostitutes from the former Soviet Union, some of whom will be very young? If so, what are the Government doing to prevent that happening in the future?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, we are aware of those kinds of problems. Immigration officials and the police service are taking careful account of them in their counter-measures. It is an international problem. 229 We need to work carefully with our European partners to try to prevent the influx of such problems and to deal with them. We must also make sure that our services are geared up to cope with such problems. They place a great strain on local services and the local police services.

§ Baroness Knight of Collingtree
My Lords, perhaps I may press the Minister further on the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, about those who organise prostitution rings, which involve boys as well as girls. The Minister has mentioned guidance. However, is there a strategy whereby a police unit, for instance, could get at those who organise the rings and are at the heart of the trouble?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the noble Baroness is right to say that a firmer attack is needed on prostitution rings, pimps and others who organise the commercialisation of sex in that way. That is referred to in the guidance and will form part of the national plan which will be rolled out in the summer. We have set ourselves firmly in support of that approach. It must be integrated: it must involve the law enforcement agencies, local authorities—in terms of both education and social services—and the independent and voluntary sector. Together, they need to work harder to tackle the problems so that we can drive these people out, particularly from inner-city areas.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, what are the penalties for pimping children under 17? Is the Minister aware that the age of those involved in prostitution is becoming lower and lower, and that there are children of 12 and 13 involved in prostitution to feed their drug habits?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, my noble and learned friend the Attorney-General tells me that he believes the answer to the first question is seven years. As to the second important point, the statistics and information that I have reviewed in preparation for this Question suggest that there is a problem among young girls. We are well aware of that. The statistics are encouraging in the sense that they do not suggest that the problem is getting worse. However, we should be mindful of the fact that statistics can be interpreted in various ways. We must ensure effective and robust local strategies involving all the agencies in order to tackle the problem in the localities. That is the best way forward.

§ Viscount Falkland
My Lords, has it not always been a reality throughout history that, unfortunately, many young people will drift into prostitution through economic necessity, actual or perceived? Child poverty is a big problem in this country and the Government are rightly addressing it. Where does that come in their action plan to tackle child poverty?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, that is an important contribution to the debate, but our general 230 approach picks up those issues. As the noble Viscount rightly says, we have put in place measures which are beginning to reverse the long-term impact of poverty, particularly among young children. That is why we have increased child benefit and introduced the working families' tax credit and a whole battery of other measures. The noble Viscount is right in saying that poverty is a big contributor. However, there are other contributory factors. There is no doubt that children who come through the care system are vulnerable, as are those in one-parent families and in families where there is a history of abuse. The strategy takes account of all those elements. The attack on poverty must be co-ordinated, particularly as it impacts on children, and we must make sure that our care and law enforcement agencies work effectively together to tackle one of our most profound problems.