§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women have been attacked by kerb crawlers in Liverpool in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested is not available from records collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the problem of kerb crawling in the inner city of Liverpool, details of which has been sent to him by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside;
(2) what recent representations he has received concerning kerb crawling; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorMy right hon. and learned Friend has asked for a report from the chief constable of Merseyside about the problem of kerb crawling in Liverpool, and will be replying to the hon. Member's letter of 6 November when he has received this report.
We are aware that kerb crawling constitutes a serious problem in many areas, including the hon. Member's constituency. In August this year, the Criminal Law Revision Committee published a report entitled "Prostitution in the Street" in which it recommended the creation of an offence to cover the nuisance of kerb crawling and two other offenses involving the soliciting of women by men. We welcome the committee's recommendations and, although there will be no early opportunity to give effect to them in Government legisltation, we would support a Bill introduced by a private Member for that purpose.
Since the report was published, we have received representations from six hon. Members, five interested bodies and six members of the public, most but not all of whom supported the committee's recommendations.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from each appropriate chief constable as to their use of manpower to deal with the problems of kerb crawling in inner city areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo. The deployment of police officers to deal with kerb crawling is an operational matter for each chief officer of police to determine in the light of the prevalence of the problem in an area and the other demands on his resources.