People Trafficking
Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland
11:30 am
Ann McKechin (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Scotland Office; Glasgow North, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman rightly raises a subject of great concern across the United Kingdom. I can assure him that there is close co-operation between all the police forces, including those in Scotland; of course, this is a devolved function of the Scottish Government. There is a national referral mechanism that is tracking child trafficking. Glasgow is one of the 13 pilot areas that have been taking part in that project, and we will have further information on its success later next year. The Government give the highest priority to tackling this invidious crime and to ensuring that we arrest the perpetrators as soon as we possibly can.
Annotations
Steven Auld
Posted on 26 Nov 2009 4:26 pm (Report this annotation)
How can we reconcile "The Government give the highest priority to tackling this invidious crime" with "Glasgow is one of the 13 pilot areas that have been taking part in that project"?
I can't. How on earth can anyone be uncertain about how to tackle this crime?
You can either break down doors and rescue children from sexual abuse, arrest and publicly prosecute the pimps and rapists, and then sequester the proceeds from this crime - all measures that should be accessible via current legislation from whatever jurisdiction. Or you can take a tentative approach and mount a pilot project so cronies can closely monitor cost effectiveness and demographic profile diversity, where experts, agents and officers deployed in the effort can be limited to temporary contracts of employment, and civil servants and MP's can waste months of time tossing out glossy reports and edifications for their colleagues.
It staggers belief that this government can take such a tough and ill-advised stance against benign recreational drugs, yet strive to have as little impact as possible against this unspeakable evil.