New laws to target buyers of sex

Prostitution Bill to be amended over kerb crawling and tolerance zones

News, 17 January 2007

Buyers of sex are to be specifically targeted by the new legislation on prostitution, the Scottish Executive said in advance of today's stage 2 debate on the bill.

Ministers plan to amend the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill in response to detailed issues raised by the Local Government and Transport Committee's stage 1 report on the bill.

This will be the first time that Scotland has made buying sex a specific offence.

But the proposed amendments also mean an end to informal management zones of the "red light" areas of cities such as Aberdeen.

The new offence will only apply to those buying sex and the existing offence in section 46 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 dealing with sellers will be retained

A "loitering" offence will be extended to cover those loitering in a vehicle with the intention of buying sex - so catching "kerb crawling". The maximum penalty for buyers will rise from £500 to £1,000.

The Executive will also consider seeking powers from Westminster to disqualify offenders from driving.

Deputy Finance and Parliamentary Business Minister George Lyon said: "Legislation alone will not eliminate street prostitution.

"We have taken the unprecedented step of taking a tough approach to target those who create the demand. There are many arguments for how best to tackle street prostitution. We believe the best place to start is the root of the problem - the kerb crawler who creates the demand."

On management zones, ministers expect the approach of the police and Crown Office to take account of views expressed by the parliament in considering where the public interest might lie in enforcing the law in future.