Crime and Policing Bill

Written evidence submitted by A Model For Scotland (CPB46)

Crime and Policing Bill – Public Bill Committee

Executive summary

· A Model for Scotland is an alliance of survivors, organisations and front-line services supporting women experiencing sexual exploitation in Scotland.

· We urge the Public Bill Committee to adopt amendment NC1, tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP, which would outlaw pimping websites in Scotland, as well as England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

· We fully support amendments NC2 and NC3, which would criminalise paying for sex and decriminalise victims of sexual exploitation in England and Wales.

· We also support the adoption of NC4, which would bring the definition of human trafficking in England and Wales in line with Scotland’s definition.

Introduction

1. A Model For Scotland is an alliance of survivors, organisations and front-line services supporting women experiencing sexual exploitation in Scotland. We advocate for a progressive legal model that shifts the burden of criminality off victims of sexual exploitation and on to those who perpetrate and profit from this abuse.

2. The members of the A Model For Scotland alliance are:

· Angus Violence Against Women Partnership

· ASSIST

· Encompass

· Equally Safe Edinburgh

· Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre

· Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre

· North Lanarkshire Council

· Restore Glasgow

· Routes Out

· SAY Women

· Scottish Women’s Convention

· South Lanarkshire Council

· Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland

· TARA

· Unite

· Wise Women

· Women's Aid Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire

· Women’s Support Project

· The Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation

3. Further information about A Model For Scotland is available on our website: www.amodelforscotland.org

Amendment NC1

4. Amendment NC1, tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP, would outlaw websites that host adverts for prostitution, hereafter referred to as ‘pimping websites’, by making it an offence to enable or profit from the prostitution of another person.

5. A groundbreaking inquiry on pimping websites by one of A Model For Scotland’s alliance members, the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, revealed the central role these websites play in facilitating sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in Scotland and across the rest of the UK [1] .

6. The inquiry by the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation concluded that pimping websites are a major enabler of sex trafficking because they centralise and concentrate demand online from sex buyers. Opportunities and incentives for third parties to traffic and exploit women via these websites cannot be ‘designed out’ of the platforms because there is simply no way the website operators can ensure the women being advertised are acting free from coercion or control.

7. With regards to policing and enforcement, the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation concluded that the scale of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation facilitated by pimping websites vastly outstrips policing capacity to respond to it. They also strongly criticised the decision by UK-wide law enforcement to collaborate with pimping websites, highlighting that this approach is failing to meet its ostensible objectives, provides political cover to the website companies, and underplays the level of threat posed by pimping websites.

8. Diane Martin CBE, a survivor of sex trafficking and Chair of A Model For Scotland, told the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation’s inquiry: "Profiteers, pimps and organised crime groups have used these websites to create a mainstream market to sell women for sex. Trafficking and pimping is big business, and these websites incentivise that and make it easy. …They are a key part of the supply chain connecting traffickers with sex buyers." [2]

9. Megan King, a survivor of sexual exploitation who was advertised online, told the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation: "When I was handed over to my first client, at which point I had no idea I was being sold into the sex trade, that client took intimate photos of me, some in my underwear and others more intimate and degrading. The underwear shots were then used as profile pictures on my Adultwork profile that my pimp created without my knowledge or onsent."..."Whereas kind of on the street, you can visibly see the vulnerability or the women - not that that’s safe either - but behind, off street, where it’s all online, who do you really know is behind it? It’s very, very easy for exploiters to get away with advertising whoever they want." [3]

10. As a result of its findings, the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation recommended that the Government make it a criminal offence to enable or profit from the prostitution of another person, online and offline, thereby outlawing pimping websites. The inquiry also recommended the provision of a comprehensive network of holistic support and exiting services for individuals who are currently or have previously been involved in commercial sexual exploitation in Scotland.

11. Amendment NC1 would implement the recommendation of Scotland’s Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation by outlawing facilitating the prostitution of another person. A Model For Scotland strongly supports this amendment and we urge members of the Public Bill Committee to accept it.

Amendments NC2 & NC3

12. Amendments NC2 and NC3, tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP, would shift the burden of criminality off victims and onto perpetrators by criminalising paying for sex and decriminalising those who solicit to sell sex. The amendments would relate to England and Wales only.

13. A Model For Scotland fully supports these amendments and advocates for equivalent amendments to be adopted by the Scottish Government [4] . The Scottish Government rightly recognises prostitution as violence against women. However, this is not currently reflected in legislation.

14. A Model For Scotland undertook research on how Scotland can learn from international approaches to combat commercial sexual exploitation. Our report, ‘International Insights’, demonstrates that criminalising paying for sex and providing support, not sanctions, to victims is an indispensable tool in reducing commercial sexual exploitation [5] . A Model For Scotland therefore fully supports NC2 and NC3.

Amendment NC4

15. Amendment NC4, tabled by Carolyn Harris MP, would update the definition of human trafficking in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to remove the need for the victim to have travelled. It would also clarify that it is irrelevant whether the victim consented to the exploitation. Such a change would bring the definition of human trafficking in England and Wales in line with Scotland’s definition.

16. In the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, human trafficking is defined as follows [6] :

Offence of human trafficking

(1) A person commits an offence if the person-

(a) takes a relevant action, and

(b) does so with a view to another person being exploited.

(2) In this Part, "relevant action" means an action which is any of the following-

(a) the recruitment of another person,

(b) the transportation or transfer of another person,

(c) the harbouring or receiving of another person,

(d) the exchange or transfer of control over another person, or

(e) the arrangement or facilitation of any of the actions mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d).

(3) It is irrelevant whether the other person consents to any part of the relevant action.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person takes a relevant action with a view to another person being exploited only if-

(a) the person intends to exploit the other person (in any part of the world) during or after the relevant action, or

(b) the person knows or ought to know the other person is likely to be exploited (in any part of the world) during or after the relevant action.

(5) An offence under this section is to be known as the offence of human trafficking.

(6) A person who commits an offence of human trafficking is liable-

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both),

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life or a fine (or both).

17. Under Scotland’s definition, the offence does not rest on whether the victim travelled. Whether or not the victim consented to the exploitation is also irrelevant to the offence.

18. Scotland’s definition of human trafficking, and the definition proposed in NC4, is in line with international definitions of human trafficking, including the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, the European Convention on Action against Trafficking, and EU Trafficking Directive 2011/36/EU.

19. It is exploitation that is the core harm of human trafficking, not travel. As such, we strongly support the definition of human trafficking in England and Wales being brought in line with Scotland’s definition through the adoption of NC4.

April 2025