§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
In how many of the existing police authorities in England and Wales, child prostitution and living off immoral earnings appear to present significant problems and ought to be included in crime and disorder audits. [HL428]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires local authorities and the police, working closely with other local organisations, to prepare and implement a local crime and disorder reduction strategy for their area.
106WAEach local partnership has to decide what the main crime problems in its area are. Our recent draft guidance on children involved in prostitution makes it clear that this particular problem can often be a hidden one. However, the guidance we have issued to local crime reduction partnerships emphasises the essential importance of making energetic efforts to identify "hard-to-reach" groups in the community. It is important that if a partnership finds that child prostitution and living off immoral earnings are among the problems of concern locally, they should feature in the strategy.
The carrying out of the audit is a matter for local partnerships and we have no information as to how many audits have identified the existence of children involved in prostitution and living off immoral earnings as significant local problems.