New clause 9 - Registration of private foster parents

Part of Adoption and Children Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:15 am on 17 January 2002.

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Photo of Tim Loughton Tim Loughton Shadow Spokesperson (Health) 10:15, 17 January 2002

I am encouraged by what the Minister is saying; she knows that I raised the subject recently in Westminster Hall. Do the changes that she describes include a provision for closing a loophole in the law? At the moment, child sex traffickers can take young women abroad, particularly women from west Africa who come into the country through Sussex, and they usually end up in Italy. That is not an offence if the girls seem to go willingly, although they are under all sorts threats. I hope that the Department is looking at that loophole.

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