§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of children involved in prostitution in each of the last 20 years. [141677]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe Home Office does not collect data on the number of children involved in prostitution. The hidden nature of this problem makes it difficult to produce reliable estimates of the extent of child prostitution. Those studies that have attempted to examine this have focused on particular geographic areas, but no accurate national data exist.