The government has promised a full review of the laws on prostitution and more efforts to tackle the rising international trade in "human traffic".

Speaking on Tuesday, the Home Office minister, Keith Bradley, said: "The government is setting about a comprehensive review of all the legislation in this area."

During a Westminster Hall debate he said that the government was becoming increasingly alarmed by the trade in young girls from Eastern Europe.

"We are very concerned in the rise of trafficking in prostitution. Trafficking turns people into commodities and targets the vulnerable," he said.

Bradley said there were no plans to create so-called "zones of tolerance" - areas where prostitution is allowed - which had been proposed by several groups.

"We have no plans to relax the laws in this area," he said. "It would be extremely difficult for local people to agree on where these areas should be. We are concerned that any such scheme might encourage the demand for services of prostitutes and, very importantly, put children at risk of becoming involved in prostitution,'' Bradley said.

He added there were no plans to offer people arrested for curb-crawling - which becomes an offence on October 1 - the option of a rehabilitation programme instead of being charged with an offence.

"The Home Office is well aware of the nuisance caused by curb-crawling. The stigma attached to kerb crawling is a powerful disincentive and I hope that the threat of being arrested may deter some from this destructive activity," he said. "If an offender does not face an appearance in court, and the publicity that goes with it, he may not be dissuaded."

The minister was replying to former health minister Gisela Stewart whose Birmingham and Edgbaston constituency has a big problem with prostitution.

"We know that prostitution is an issue that has been with us for centuries and will never be eradicated," she said. "We have to live with a problem that won't go away and deal with it in a safe and acceptable way."

She said that most prostitutes were dependent on drugs and victims of pimps rather than adults who had made a lifestyle choice. Some were underage and in some cities, particularly London, they were from foreign countries who had been lured into the vice trade.

"There are very different attitudes to sex in this country. In Europe they don't have the same system of pimps as we have," she said.

Stuart said the police and government had to tackle the core problem of those who sought the services of prostitutes.

"The root of the problem is the kerb-crawlers. If you tackle them then you take away the incentive for the trade in the first place," she said.