Prostitution strategy green lights small brothels

Ministers are set to legalise small brothels as part of their new strategy for tackling prostitution.

Under existing laws, only one prostitutes can work from a flat or premises without committing an offence.

But ministers could now allow two prostitutes and a receptionist or maid to work together legally.

The move was announced as part of a wider strategy for dealing with prostitution, which also includes a bid to crack down on kerb crawling and related crimes.

Home Office minister Fiona Mactaggart outlined plans on Tuesday designed to offer more support to vulnerable women and steeper punishment for 'pimps' and 'punters'.

The police are to be encouraged to adopt a 'zero tolerance' approach, rejecting the argument that the profession is impossible to prohibit.

Marking a U-turn in government policy, the department accepted a call from police chiefs to reject the creation of officially-sanctioned red light zones, saying there was not enough proof from other countries that they have been a success.

"I cannot accept that we should turn a blind eye to a problem that causes misery for people living in or near red-light areas,"  Mactaggart said.

"There is no evidence that decriminalisation or licensing prostitution would achieve our objectives of reducing exploitation, improving the safety of those involved, and making local communities safer."

Crackdown

Mactaggart said existing powers should be utilised better to ensure proactive policing of prostitution alongside new penalties, including the withdrawal of driving licenses for repeat offenders.

"Prostitution blights communities and the lives of those who participate," the minister said.

"While kerb-crawlers could choose not to pay for sex, women involved in prostitution often have very limited choices in life. 

"They come from difficult backgrounds, might have drug problems or nowhere safe to live. I want them to have help and support to leave prostitution.

"The communities who suffer the side effects of prostitution end up with no choice over what happens on their streets - and they are the ones who see used condoms on the streets, who live in fear of innocent women being abused or attacked and who have the stigma of living in a red-light area.

"We will not eradicate prostitution overnight, but we must not condone this exploitative industry. I want to see a tough approach to kerb-crawling, combined with much better work to prevent children being drawn into prostitution and give those involved a route out."

But Niki Adams, of the English Collective of Prostitutes, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I think the package is very similar to many other approaches we have seen in the past, which is really just to crack down on prostitutes.

"With a crackdown on clients, the result will be an increase in criminalisation and an increase in rape and other violence. That's what we have seen every previous time that has been put forward.

"What it means is the streets are saturated with police and prostitute women are arrested first and most. Women have less time to check out clients and are forced further underground. Women are less likely to come forward and report rape and violence."

Vulnerable

The Conservatives called for prostitution to be dealt with in a "thoughtful and sensible way".

"We need to focus on the underlying social problems which force men, women and children into prostitution, such as family breakdown, drug misuse, child abuse, domestic violence and debt," said home affairs spokesman Edward Garnier.

"The Conservative Party realise the need to try and stem the demand for prostitution, yet government policy cannot simply focus on demand.

"It must also look thoughtfully and intelligently at the issues which lead vulnerable people to becoming prostitutes in the first place."

And Liberal Democrat spokesman Mark Oaten said the new strategy was "a missed opportunity".

"It will do very little to reduce the number of prostitutes on the street, to improve the appalling conditions they work in, or to tackle health problems," he cautioned.

"We need smart solutions not the same old failed approach.

"We support the piloting of 'managed zones' in designated areas of cities, subject to a code of conduct and regular contact with police and health workers. 

"The object of these zones is not to 'tolerate' prostitution but to move it to a specified area where professionals can work with prostitutes to help them reach a point where they can choose other employment."

Council plan

Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, the Local Government Association launched its own 'five point plan' for tackling the problem.

The councillors' body recommended that criminal convictions for women and children involved in the sex trade be abolished and that the police should adopt a 'zero tolerance' approach to pimps and those who make use of their services.

It also called for those involved in prostitution to be given priority for drug treatment, new powers for councils to board up brothels and massage parlours and a national information campaign.

"There must be a zero-tolerance approach to the pimps and the punters," said Ann Lucas, chairman of the LGA's prostitution task group.

"These are the real criminals and this plan sets out how more can to be done to catch and punish them.

"Women with criminal convictions for soliciting can find it impossible to get legitimate jobs. A change in the law is needed to abolish the stigma of a conviction for prostitutes.

"A focus on drug treatment and stopping women getting involved in prostitution in the first place are necessary and needed. An estimated 95 per cent of women have a drug habit that keeps them on the streets. They need to be given priority for drug treatment."