Policing and Crime Bill

Amendment 66 seeks to amend aspects of Clause 15, notably the definition of persistence which this clause would introduce to the offence of loitering and soliciting for the purposes of prostitution under the Street Offences Act 1959. Clause 15 would amend the offence of loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution found in Section 1 of the Street Offences Act in removing the term "common prostitute". I appreciate the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, but I believe that it is a step in the right direction. It inserts an explicit requirement to prove that a person has acted persistently. The effect of Amendment 66 would be that persistence, as several noble Lords have explained in this short debate, would be defined as two or more occasions in one week, rather than two or more occasions in three months. This would mean that people could be arrested for loitering and soliciting for the purposes of prostitution only if they were found to have done so on two or more occasions in one week. This would significantly narrow the definition that we are introducing. We have sought police advice in developing this amendment and believe that it sets the threshold for persistence at the appropriate level. Restricting the definition to cover only those found loitering and soliciting twice within one week would narrow this offence too much and would require greater police resources to collate the necessary evidence. This would limit the power of this offence, and responses we received to our consultation, Paying the Price, suggested there was support for maintaining the offence in order to tackle the problems associated with street prostitution. The definition of persistence as defined by Clause 15 strikes a balance which gives the police the power to take action against those who are engaged in street prostitution on a regular basis, while taking account of the fact that some may leave prostitution but return intermittently, having lapsed in their attempts to leave. Attempts to restrict this definition would affect this balance, and we believe that the definition that would result from the amendment is too narrow. On that basis, I ask her to withdraw her amendment.