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24 May 2007 : Column 536WH—continued
I also pay tribute to campaigners such as Chris Beddoe and Kate Allen and to all the non-governmental organisations that, as we know from our postbags, play a huge role in campaigning to force these issues on to the agenda. That is particularly important, because they are sometimes regarded as fringe issues outside mainstream politics, and not the meat of government or—to be frank to the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier)—of opposition. They are seen as the sort of issues that a few well-meaning people are concerned about, but which do not capture the British public’s imagination.
In fact, what NGOs have done, and are still doing effectively, is to awaken something very deep in the British people. They are demanding that we all do something about this issue, which is a great credit to them. The way in which the Government have tried to respond is a credit to everybody involved. This issue is tied up with modern-day slavery, the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of slavery’s abolition, and so on, but the public are now saying, “This is an absolute outrage. It is morally repugnant.” Virtually every person in the country wants something to be done about it.
What people really want is not policies but a magic wand. They want trafficking to end. I do not want to sound like Victor Meldrew, but we are all suffering from the “I can’t believe it happens” syndrome. The hon. Member for Totnes talked about child trafficking, the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon mentioned women being trafficked for sexual exploitation and other hon. Members have mentioned labour exploitation. We saw that only too tragically and awfully on our television screens a couple of weeks ago, when a brilliant piece of investigative journalism exposed what is going on. We all want to see an end to it, and today’s debate is about how we achieve that.
The action plan exists because of all the points that I have just made. It is not just a nicely bound document with “Home Office” and “The Scottish Executive” on the front, but a living document. It is designed to try to do something about all those issues that people demand we do something about, and we want to see it put into practice. I shall deal with some of the specific questions that were raised in a moment, but I should point out now that an inter-ministerial group will review progress on the action plan and consider whether it has been effective. It will also look at education, which hon. Members asked about. A further ministerial group that I chair, along with the Solicitor-General, involves stakeholders who were instrumental in putting the action plan together.
However, the judgment as to whether the action plan has been effective will not be made by those formal groups; it will be based on testimonies as to whether the reality to which the hon. Member for Totnes rightly referred has changed, and whether we have managed to deliver an environment in which more people are prosecuted for trafficking, more victims are supported, more places are available and children are not disappearing. Those are the measures of the action plan’s effectiveness that we would all want to use. If we can achieve those aims, we will not have simply a document called “UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking”, which, in itself, is a great achievement for us all; rather, we will have a document that means something in communities throughout the country, and that will make a real difference to
potential victims. In the end, that is what the judgment will be and, frankly, what it should be.
As I start to answer hon. Members’ questions, some people will agree and some will disagree with the points that I make. However, let us start from the fact, which hon. Members were generous enough to state, that this Parliament and this Government, working with others—including the various stakeholders and the public—have put together a document that people would not even have understood the purpose of four, three or even two years ago. We should realise the difference that has been made and judge how far we can make progress by looking at what happens outside this place. A difference has indeed been made, but we need to carry on.
Following that peroration, if I should call it that—
Mr. Garnier: I hope it was the beginning.
Following those remarks, let me respond to some of the specific issues that hon. Members raised. On domestic workers—the issue raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon—we are in discussions with our colleagues dealing with immigration matters to see what can be done regarding the changed rules. On statistics, I should point out that the Home Office published a research document today that looks at the scale of organised crime. Indeed, that is where the figure of 4,000 women trafficked for sexual exploitation in 2003 came from, and it is the latest available evidence that we have. I shall say a little more about research in a minute, but Members may wish to refer to that document, which tries to estimate the financial cost.
My hon. Friend will know that the UKHTC, which he mentioned, has a victim co-ordinator, and that we are trying to protect victims. He also discussed the various protocols, as did other hon. Members. The UN optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child—on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography—is being reviewed for ratification, and other Departments are being consulted on that. We have no plans regarding the reservation with respect to the UN convention on the rights of the child, but I can assure hon. Members that we are considering whether making the Border and Immigration Agency subject to section 11 is the appropriate way forward.
A number of hon. Members raised the issue of law enforcement. Pentameter was an extremely successful police operation. I hesitate to mention dates in front of the hon. Member for Totnes, but there will be a Pentameter 2 and we expect that to start some time in the autumn.
Dr. Harris: I do not mean to be pedantic, but the Minister said that Pentameter was successful. I am keen to see what independent evaluation has taken place, but it will be quicker for me to ask what would have made that operation unsuccessful. If the Minister can identify that, we will know by what measure it is seen as having been successful.
Mr. Coaker: A key recommendation of the original Operation Pentameter was that we needed a UK human trafficking centre that co-ordinated police activity across the country; the operation would have been unsuccessful if we had not learned that lesson.
I turn to international co-operation, which the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon has discussed on a number of occasions. We are seeking to establish a Pentameter operation across the G6 as soon as we can. The convention requires us to set minimum requirements for residents’ permits and the reflection period. Currently, we operate a 30-day period for victims accepted on to the POPPY project; we are considering the various models of residents’ permits to establish what is appropriate.
I come to the points raised by the hon. Member for Totnes, who mentioned the Council of Europe. All hon. Members will be pleased that we signed the Council of Europe convention, on 23 March. Seven countries have now ratified. Let me take the issue head on: we do not have a timetable for ratification, and that may disappoint the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon. However, I have consistently said to stakeholders and various meetings, and I have tried to convey to hon. Members, that I am proud that we have signed the Council of Europe convention. We can argue about whether that took too long, but I am proud of the fact that we have done it. If I am still in my post, I shall also be proud—if I am not, I shall still be proud, but from a different position—of the fact that when we ratify the convention, everything that is supposed to be in place for the convention to be ratified will be.
We have an action plan that deals with identification, prevention, what we are going to do about children and adult victims, and labour exploitation. For each of those areas, the plan sets out action points that we have to make a reality. I made that point at the beginning. We can ratify the treaty before that, but ratification is supposed to happen when all the various elements have been committed to. Would hon. Members really want us to ratify when we know that all the elements that are supposed to be in place for the ratification to be meaningful and real are not in place?
I have said it before, and it is a point worth making: all hon. Members here, including me, will have brought a hall to its feet by telling people what they want to hear. We could say, “We will ratify tomorrow,” and everybody would say that that was fantastic. However, if we said that tomorrow, the fundamental truth would be that we would know that there would be weaknesses in every area of the action plan. Elements such as housing, identification procedures and protections for children would not be in place; we would know that all those elements were not there. We want to ratify when we are in a position to put our hands on our hearts and say, “We have done all the things that we are required to do.”
I want ratification as quickly as possible and to see it taken forward as soon as possible. I make this commitment to all in the Chamber: while I am in this post—or if I return to the Back Benches or go to wherever else it might be—I shall continue to pursue ratification and to try to make it come about as soon as possible.
Dr. Harris: The Liberal Democrats would not expect ratification if the measures that the Minister has identified were not in place; that would make ratification much less meaningful. People are asking, as I have, what date he has in mind, in order to find out when he thinks all those measures will be in place. I was not asking about ratification for its own sake. Would the Minister be terribly disappointed if it happened beyond the end of 2007 or 2008?
Mr. Coaker: I usually try to answer questions, but to be honest I am not sure whether I can answer that one in a way that would satisfy the hon. Gentleman. I repeat that I want the convention to be ratified as quickly as possible and the changes that would make that ratification meaningful to take place as soon as possible. All that I can do is give a commitment to all hon. Members here that I will work to achieve that. I cannot say that ratification will happen by the end of 2007 or by May 2008—I do not know. I just want matters to progress quickly, and my determination is reflected by other Ministers, the stakeholders and, as far as I can see, all Members of the House.
The hon. Member for Totnes raised a number of questions about the CEOP report. That report is being progressed. I put on the record an apology to the hon. Gentleman: my reading of the timetable on that was not as accurate as I would have hoped. However, let him understand that we are genuine about publishing the report because—this goes back to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon and the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon—we want to undertake research and to have a greater understanding of what is going on. The CEOP report will help us to understand more about the situation regarding children. We look forward to its publication because it will demonstrate certain things about the nature and extent of child trafficking, which will allow us to develop and amend our policies accordingly.
Mr. Steen: Will the Minister hazard a guess, to which we shall not hold him? When might the report be published?
Mr. Coaker: I do not think that the hon. Gentleman will leave for the recess having to look forward to the report’s arrival when he comes back. I expect and hope that it will be published before then. That is the best that I can do.
Dr. Harris: The recess is in half an hour’s time.
Mr. Coaker: I thank the hon. Gentleman; I meant the summer recess.
I turn to a couple of other points. My hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli was gracious enough to point to some of the progress that has been made. She also talked about some aspects of the action plan, such as prevention. We are doing a lot of work with NGOs and other Governments to highlight the danger in some of the things that are advertised and some of the stories that are told in other countries. We need to understand that so much of trafficking involves deception and people not understanding the reality of the situation.
I want to share with hon. Members my experience of visiting Operation Paladin Child at Heathrow airport, which is a police operation to prevent child trafficking. The courage and professionalism of the police officers
working there is second to none. It is heartbreaking to hear from them that, sometimes, when they try to stop a child about whom they have suspicions, to prevent them from coming into the country, the child kicks, screams, bites and fights. The officer has their best interests at heart, but the child believes that the officer has bad intent, although they are trying to help. That shows the difficulty of dealing with such situations. Deception is a real problem. We are working hard to prevent it in other countries, and we are doing what we can to reduce demand.
My hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli made a point about core police business. We will have another domestic campaign with Operation Pentameter 2, which I hope will help in that respect. The UKHTC is working hard to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Courts Service and police forces throughout the country understand the importance of that work. The UKHTC recently sent a DVD to every police officer to inform them about that area of work and to encourage them to think of it as a toolkit to help. We are involved in international talks: we were instrumental in creating an EU action plan, which we have monitored and tried to put forward, and we are working with the UN. The international focus of the work is crucial; we have talked about the UK action plan, but if we are to make a real difference, we must consider working together internationally to tackle the problems that we face.
The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon pointed out some of the good practice that he had seen in Italy and the need for us to learn from good practice throughout the continent and indeed the world. We shall do that. We are considering what legislation or other actions are required to move towards ratification. We are considering what we need to do with respect to a helpline. I point out to the hon. Gentleman that a child trafficking information line will be set up with the co-operation of Comic Relief, ECPAT UK and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. I understand that it will be set up some time in the summer, although I do not think that we have a date yet. That will help to deal with particular aspects of child trafficking.
Hon. Members have asked a huge range of questions. At the core of the report was a belief that the Government’s focus was on law enforcement at the expense of a victim-centred human rights approach. In the action plan, we have tried to rebalance what we have done and to say that law enforcement is crucial. As the hon. Member for Totnes said, there have been 33 prosecutions and that is right. Many of those prosecutions have led to long jail sentences, which we would all applaud. We want to see the number of prosecutions go up, we want more people to be brought to justice and we want more done to ensure that people cannot do such things with impunity.
We also recognise that there is a balance to be struck between proper immigration control and recognising that many of the people whom the police come across are not immigration offenders but the victims of a crime. We took on board what the Committee said and we have tried to rebalance what we have done towards a victim-centred human rights approach that also recognises what we need to do with respect to law enforcement.
Mr. Steen: The Minister rightly pointed out that a number of questions were raised. Would it be possible for his officials to look through the questions and to see whether he can write to me, in particular, about some of the issues that he has not covered?
Mr. Coaker: It seems that I was asked about 150 questions. I have tried to take a broad brush to them, but, particularly if the hon. Gentleman feels that there is a particular question that we have not answered, I shall try to write to him. On the question of assets, through the incentivisation scheme the more assets the police recover the more they get back. Such questions have been dealt with. In respect of the action plan in general, the main thrust of what my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon said was that the Government need a more victim-centred human rights approach. That means more places, more support and better identification. It means a national referral mechanism, which we have put in the action plan, so that people know where to refer someone. The debates are huge.
As the hon. Member for Totnes has provoked me, let me ask what it means, for example, to establish somewhere safe for a child. Local authorities had safe houses for children, but what happened? Those safe houses were used as targets for the traffickers to go and pick the children up. As far as I am aware, some children were put in care and then left. What is the solution? I pose that as a rhetorical question, because it is one that taxes my brain. If we wanted to protect children who were coming into the country, until we could sort out what was going on we would almost need some sort of secure facility. Is that acceptable? Is it the right way forward? Probably not, so we would have to foster those children. How would we get that number of foster carers? The questions are huge and their solutions will require more resources. I cannot say what amount they will require, but they will require more.
Whether it is labour exploitation, child trafficking, or the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation we will take action through the themes that we have outlined—prevention, identification, support and making a difference. I shall finish with this comment—
Mr. Steen: The Minister does not have to—there is more time.
Mr. Coaker: No, but I will finish.
Dr. Harris: It would be wrong to let the Minister finish without recognising what he said about accepting the thrust of the report, which was that there needed to be a more victim-centred approach. Since, as he says, the UK action plan is a live document and will be developed, I am pleased that he has effectively accepted the challenge that it will be judged on how it complies with that need to change. I welcome the undertaking that he has just given to accept that the thrust needs to change and is changing along with the action plan, so I thank him.
Mr. Coaker:
I am overjoyed with that comment. I will go further than that. If the hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon want me to come back to the JCHR at some point in the future—at
a reasonable time, not next week or in a couple of months—I shall come back and talk about the progress that has been made. I want to make that commitment, and all the hon. Members here have made it. The action plan is a living document and, if we make it real and active and deliver what is in it, we will together have made a real difference in tackling modern-day slavery—one of the great moral issues of today. We will have made a difference not only to what happens here but to the victims of crime and trafficking out there, whether they be adults or children.
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