§ 17. Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made with promoting(a) Child Rescue Alert and (b) the Safety House project as national child protection schemes. [125071]
§ Paul GogginsA Child Rescue Alert scheme completed its pilot in Sussex at the end of May 2003. Its purpose is to find children who have been abducted. The Homicide Working Group of the Association of Chief Police Officers has recommended that the scheme be implemented under nationally agreed standards. Sussex police are currently waiting for the British Safety House Association to provide more details about the Safety House project, before they give further consideration for this development.
20. Dr. Desmond TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will introduce new laws to combat the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children within the UK; and if he will make a statement. [125074]
§ Beverley HughesThe Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act introduced a new criminal offence of trafficking for control over prostitution with a maximum penalty of 14 years.
The new Sexual Offences Bill also introduces a new offence of commercial sexual exploitation of a child, which will protect children up to 18, covering a range of offences, including buying the sexual services of a child, and causing, facilitating or controlling the commercial sexual exploitation of a child in prostitution or pornography.