Policing and Crime Bill

Debate on whether Clause 16 should stand part of the Bill. We have just heard some of the problems that these referral orders are posing. There are questions about resources and practicality, but I would like to return to the principle, because the very concept of compulsory rehabilitation for prostitutes has an extremely Victorian ring about it as far as I am concerned. The Home Office’s assessment does not seem very clear in its answer to the very good question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, about whether this is for the defendant or for wider society. I shall briefly quote from its summary of interventions and options in its impact assessment of prostitution referral orders. It states that orders are to, ""help break the cycle of prostitution and by helping prostitutes overcome problems"." That is very fair and a perfectly laudable aim. However, in its comments under the evidence base, it states: ""Street prostitution is of serious concern as it can involve anti-social behaviour, serious drug abuse, violence and exploitation and organised crime"." Whether this rather Victorian attitude is intended to help with those crimes, which can be prosecuted quite separately in any case, or to help the defendant is really not clear. If the Government are keen to assist prostitutes out of prostitution, they would no doubt like to take some advice from other bodies that have submitted evidence. The Royal College of Nursing, for example, feels that these measures are too punitive to tackle the problem and that forcing prostitutes into these programmes will not work. As it says, prostitutes in the majority of cases are driven to prostitution as an act of desperation, often to fuel a drug habit. It is easy to envisage that maintaining this addiction will lead to non-attendance at rehabilitation meetings. That absence will then lead to recall to court and the extension of a fine or prison sentence to the individual. Criminalisation will drive underground those in need of properly funded and staffed healthcare support. The Royal College of Nursing is definite that the Government’s approach to this compulsory rehabilitation will not help at all. It has a strong body of evidence. It has worked with a large number of women and suggests that the support offered should be basic and crucial. Access to healthcare support may vary; support may be in offering sex health advice, a supply of contraceptives, needle exchange schemes and drug rehabilitation. The royal college is not at all talking in the terms in which the orders are envisaged. It is hard to understand where the Government feel that their evidence shows that the approach that they propose in Clause 16 should work. To go back to what we said at the beginning of the Bill, Clause 16 smacks of the state’s wish to exert some sort of moral disapproval of prostitution while simultaneously recognising that it will not go away. It actually reintroduces punishment and custody by the back door. I know that the Minister will feel that Clause 16 is drafted with the best of intentions and that the Government want to help to point prostitutes in a direction in which they can make a change in their lives. In that case, however, why make it punitive if they do not attend the meetings? Why not suggest this as a voluntary measure, without the tag of criminalisation at the end? The UK Network of Sex Work Projects has a lot of experience of what works. It says: ""The experience of member projects which operate voluntary court diversion programmes shows that compulsion is not necessary. Our members are happy to advise on such schemes and the learning from them"." The network makes the point that a lot of this depends on adequate and sustained funding for interventions, which we have just talked about. Clearly, three visits to anything is completely unrealistic if you really want to give somebody sustained help. If someone has worked even as a volunteer around a CAB office they will know about the length of time that it takes to support somebody to turn their lives around. Such people may and probably do have multiple problems and are more likely to turn their lives around if they are voluntarily attending a series of meetings over months, even years. The Minister will ask why, in that case, I am not more supportive of starting people off on the ladder of attending meetings. However, putting the limited resources into compulsory schemes is undermining that idea. He spoke of the good work that some of the projects are doing. However, the funding should be put into longer-term voluntary help, which would be far more likely to produce positive results. Therefore, we cannot support Clause 16 as it stands. I struggle to understand why the Government are proposing this as a practical measure.