Written question asked by Caroline Spelman (Conservative) on Thursday, 12 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 October 2006. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 October 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Human Trafficking

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government are taking to tackle human trafficking in London.

Answer: On 3 October 2006 we opened the UK Human Trafficking Centre in Sheffield. This dedicated centre will bring together intelligence gathering, training, research and law enforcement under one roof.The centre will be staffed by police as well as officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and the Crown Prosecution Service. It will co-ordinate the work of police forces around the country trying to prevent sex and other forms of forced labourers, including children, from working in the UK.We are also currently developing proposals for a UK Action Plan on Human Trafficking. The Action Plan will concentrate in three key areas: prevention; investigation, law enforcement and prosecutions; and protection and assistance to victims. We aim to publish the Action Plan early next year.The police recently led other agencies in Operation Pentameter. It aimed to tackle trafficking for sexual exploitation by raising awareness of the issue followed by a series of enforcement campaigns across the country. The operation managed to rescue 84 women many of them in London.Operation MAXIM is the Metropolitan Police Service led initiative working in partnership with the United Kingdom Immigration Service (UKIS) and UK Passport Service (UKPS) to target organised immigration crime in London with the shared objective to significantly disrupt, prevent and reduce serious criminality connected to illegal immigration.

Secondary information