§ Ms BuckTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further conclusions he has reached on the proposed new offence to deal with cards placed by prostitutes in phone boxes. [142559]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeMy officials have discussed the proposals in detail with representatives from local authorities, telephone operators, the police, CPS and other agencies. In the light of these discussions we have modified the proposals in two main areas.
First, we propose a national, not an adoptive offence. Although this is as yet largely a local problem, an adoptive approach could lead to circumvention and be impractical. Secondly we favour a more limited offence which would cover advertisements for the services of prostitutes and other sexual services in telephone boxes in public places rather than a general offence of unauthorised advertising. We believe the offence should attract a power of arrest. There should be a power to extend the offence, by affirmative resolution, to other structures providing shelter to the public, in case the activity is displaced to, for example, bus shelters.
As part of a co-ordinated approach, the Director-General of Oftel is consulting with the telecommunications industry on how best to bring in effective call-barring schemes to deal with the nuisance of prostitutes' cards. I believe that the co-ordinated action 88W on call barring and the new criminal offence will enable us to crack down on this illegal and undesirable practice and protect local communities from the obvious nuisance that these cards cause.
We are keen to make progress in this area and will bring forward proposals when Parliamentary time allows.