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Human Trafficking

My hon. Friend is right, and that is why the situation causes a problem. The Conservatives believe that we should have a proper integrated border police force, which integrates the immigration and customs services with the police, and that such a force should have the necessary powers to stop, search, investigate and prosecute. Instead of having a succession of ad-hoc operations, this type of operation should be a permanent priority. There should also be specific measures on border controls that would address trafficking, including separate interviews at all airports of women and children travelling alone with an adult who is not a parent, guardian or husband. That is a practice implemented successfully by the US, and it will help to identify potential victims. We believe that better police measures could be taken, and we also believe that they would lead to more robust law enforcement and more prosecutions. The Government say that law enforcement in this area is a priority, but in the last year prosecutions have fallen by 40 per cent., so the facts before us suggest that that is not the reality. We need more focus on prosecutions to tackle both supply and demand. As a country, we could do better on protection. I imagine that everyone who participates in this debate knows about the good work of the POPPY project, but while that should be seen as an acceptable pilot, it is not the whole answer, not least because it is based entirely in London. We need to increase the number of places in safe houses and we need to do better for under-18s who are trafficked. For current legal reasons, anyone under 18 who has been trafficked has to remain in the care of the local authority social services and cannot be moved to the POPPY project or any similar service. The problem is that far too high a percentage of those in local authority care have simply disappeared, and it is believed that many have been repossessed by the traffickers.