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Human Trafficking: Females

Volume 497: debated on Wednesday 14 October 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shelters for trafficked women his Department plans to build in each of the next five years. (291552)

I have been asked to reply.

The Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking which the Government ratified in December last year commits the UK to provision of sheltered accommodation for all those trafficked women who need it.

The Government have consequently invested £4 million into specialist support services for victims of human trafficking over the next two years.

This includes an investment of £3.7 million into the Poppy project to expand and improve the services that are available to victims that have been trafficked into the sex-industry and domestic servitude. The additional investment will see an expansion of supported accommodation, with refuge places for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude in London, Sheffield and Cardiff. The investment will also fund a new national co-ordinator who will help set best practice standards and work with areas to raise awareness with local agencies and funding commissioners. There will also be an increase in advocacy workers to help provide one-to-one tailored support and the community outreach team will also be extended with two link workers based within the UK Human Trafficking Centre to work in partnership with the police, UK Border Agency and other partners to help with victim identification and onward referral into support.

Additionally, £300,000 is being invested into the UK Human Trafficking Centre to develop flexible support services for victims of labour trafficking.