Policing and Crime Bill

I appreciate the contributions made and the support for the government amendments with which we are seeking to improve the legislation. It is true that sometimes you are criticised for not listening and changing your mind and sometimes you are criticised when you do listen and change your mind. That in a sense is why this House has improved much legislation over the years by giving it greater scrutiny than that provided in another place. I am not sure that I can add anything to what I said before about Amendment 48. As I say, we think that the use of financial gain is an important element in two ways. First, it is unlikely that there would be exploitation without financial gain. Secondly, it partly explains what we are seeking to do to protect the vulnerable women who are coerced or trafficked. They are trafficked for the financial gain of others, rather than themselves. We want the punters, as we colloquially call them, to understand why we are seeking changes of behaviour on their part, so that they do not seek to go with people who are coerced and they understand the difficulties of people in that situation. We have heard that a high percentage, in some cases 90 per cent, of prostitutes in major cities in Britain, not just in London, are suspected of being trafficked or certainly brought to this country with promises of financial gain.