asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they have any evidence of the trafficking of children and young people from west African countries to Britain; if so, what preventive action they are taking; and whether they will promote concerted international efforts to lessen this trafficking. [HL2988]

The Government are aware of cases where children have been trafficked from west African countries to Britain. The Government are determined to tackle this gross abuse of children, as demonstrated in the Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking, which was published on 23 March 2007.

The action plan aims to prevent human trafficking from source countries by taking forward a range of measures that actively seek to address the vulnerabilities of certain communities to trafficking. The Government acknowledge that their work with international partners will play a key part in maximising the impact of the action plan. More details about the action plan can be found on the Home Office website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/human-traffick-action-plan.