Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Tuesday, 27 June 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 29 June 2006. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Human Trafficking

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of raising awareness of human trafficking amongst the clients of prostitutes.

Answer: The recent consultation exercise on proposals for the UK Action Plan included questions on how to reduce demand for the services of trafficked persons. As part of the development of the final UK Action Plan consideration will be given to how awareness campaigns can be monitored for their effectiveness. During the course of Operation Pentameter internet websites for users of prostitutes were monitored. The monitoring demonstrated that there was an increased awareness of the issue as a direct result of the activity undertaken by Operation Pentameter.The work undertaken by Pentameter will be carried on by the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the establishment of which was announced on 21 June.

Secondary information