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Alcopops
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the new code of practice relating to the marketing of alcopops; and what measures are in place to continue to monitor the behaviour of industry in its marketing of alcopops. [53694]
Mr. George Howarth: The Ministerial Group's statement last July welcomed the Portman Group's revised code on packaging and marketing alcohol products. The statement also set out recommended action by all interests. The Group plans to review progress this autumn, and will consider then both the impact of the new code and the question of further monitoring.
Prostitution
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent surveys have been undertaken by his Department to obtain information on the number of young people involved in prostitution. [53698]
Mr. Michael: Information on the numbers of persons cautioned and convicted of offences involving prostitution is collected on a continuous basis for our Cautions and Court Proceedings databases. No separate survey has been carried out by my Department.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what services his Department provides to (a) police and (b) local authorities to encourage young people to abandon prostitution; and if he will make a statement; [53701]
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Mr. Michael:
The Information requested is given in the table.
(2) how many young (a) females and (b) males are recorded as having been involved in prostitution in England and Wales in each of the last three years; and what measures his Department has taken to counter child prostitution. [53696]
| Cautions | Convictions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Male | Female | Male | Female |
| 1994 | 8 | 303 | 0 | 142 |
| 1995 | 3 | 263 | 4 | 101 |
| 1996 | 6 | 291 | 3 | 177 |
(5) Includes offences of soliciting by a man or a woman and kerb crawling
The Government recognise that children involved in prostitution are primarily victims of abuse and that those who exploit and use them should be treated as child abusers. We are determined to ensure that there are effective inter-agency arrangements to help children who have become involved in prostitution to leave it and to ensure that abusers are punished.
Against this background, we are taking a number of specific measures. First, the Department of Health and the Home Office are preparing new comprehensive guidance for the police and local authorities on the treatment of children in prostitution in collaboration with the police and social services. This guidance will build on the ground-breaking guidelines produced and piloted by the Association of Chief Police Officers, in consultation
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with others, on the treatment of children involved in prostitution. It will also take full account of the new juvenile justice arrangements in the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] and the responses to the Department of Health consultation paper Working Together To Safeguard Children: New Government Proposals for Inter-Agency Co-operation!
We will be consulting interested organisations on draft guidance later in the year.
Second, I announced on 15 June 1998, Official Report, column 10, that there will be a review of all sexual offences with the aim of ensuring that the framework of the sexual offences and penalties is coherent and effective. The review will cover the offences and penalties for those who use and abuse children who become involved in prostitution.
Third, we have introduced measures in the Crime and Disorder Bill which may help in dealing with the problem of children who have become involved in prostitution. For instance, the Bill places a duty on local authorities and the police, in partnership with other agencies, to carry out an audit of crime and disorder in their area. This should help to determine the extent of the involvement of children in prostitution in a local area, on the basis of which the partners will be able to devise a strategy for dealing with the problem.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women have been convicted of living on the immoral earnings of prostitution in each of the last three years. [53697]
Mr. Michael:
Information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings database, including number of cautions, is given in the table.
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| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offence | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females |
| Convictions | ||||||
| Living on earnings of prostitution or exercising control over prostitution(6) | 60 | 10 | 43 | 8 | 38 | 4 |
| Living wholly or in part on the earnings of male prostitution(7) | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 3 | -- |
| Cautions | ||||||
| Living on earnings of prostitution or exercising control over prostitution(6) | 3 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Living wholly or in part on the earnings of male prostitution(7) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
(6) Sexual Offences Act 1956, Secs. 30 and 31
(7) Sexual Offences Act 1967, Sec. 5(1)
Source:
Home Office Court Proceedings Database
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Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial support his Department currently provides to organisations encouraging young people to leave prostitution. [53699]
Mr. Michael:
The Home Office does not directly fund organisations which encourage young people to leave prostitution. This is essentially a local function. Central Government do provide grants to local probation committees through the probation service, some of which may be used on work which encourages young people to leave prostitution. Details of how the money is spent are not held centrally.
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The Department of Health awards both core and project grants to a number of organisations each year through the General Section 64 Scheme (S64). Barnardos is receiving funding over three years to contribute to the cost of a National Development Officer who will evaluate present and proposed services for children who are involved in or at risk of sexual exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation, and to support various projects.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives he proposes to promote contact between the local police forces and schools. [53577]
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Mr. Michael:
Liaison between local police forces and schools provides an important first contact with the police for young people and the opportunity to create positive relationships. Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary's thematic inspection of police community relations, whose report was published last October, found clear evidence that the use of schools liaison officers had a positive effect on police/community relations and recommended that the value of such officers to foster links and enhance the image of the police should be recognised by forces. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary will be conducting a follow up inspection of 15 forces in the autumn to assess progress.
Joint guidance issued by the Department for Education and Employment and the Home Office last December on schools security covers police assistance to schools in helping them to develop security strategies and in responding to incidents on school premises. It should also help promote partnerships between local police forces and schools.
A range of measures in the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] will encourage joint working between the police and education services, including schools. For example, use of the new power for the police to remove truants will involve the drawing up of strategies by the local education authority and schools in conjunction with the police to address identified local truancy problems while schools will have an important role in the local crime and disorder reduction partnerships and in the development of Youth Action Groups.
Mr. Prior:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of police officers in Norfolk took voluntary early retirement in the last year for which figures are available; and what was the national average. [53576]
Mr. Michael:
Statistics are not held in the specific form requested, but the number of voluntary resignations from Norfolk Constabulary in 1997-98 was 12, which was 14 per cent. of the total who ceased to serve in the force of that year. This compares with a total of 924 voluntary resignations from forces in England and Wales, also 14 per cent. of the total who ceased to serve in that year, and 712 or 14 per cent. from provincial forces in England and Wales (excluding the Metropolitan Police). Voluntary resignations do not include early retirement with an ill-health pension, which is for management to determine.
Mr. Prior:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many working hours were lost by the Norfolk Police due to sick leave in the last year for which figures are available; and what was the national average. [53575]
Mr. Michael:
Information on police sick leave is collected on the basis of days lost rather than hours. In 1997-98, 15,053 police days were lost through sickness in Norfolk Constabulary (4.6 per cent. of the total working days), compared with a national average in England and Wales of 37,084 police days (5.6 per cent.) and a provincial average (excluding the Metropolitan Police) of 28,573 police days (5.3 per cent.).
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