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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-30528

  • Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
  • Date lodged: 9 October 2024
  • Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 October 2024

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report, Prostitution and violence against women and girls - Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, whether it will commit to supporting the Nordic Model in the current parliamentary session, in order to tackle violence against women and girls and any commercial sexual exploitation of prostitution.


Answer

I met with the UN Special Rapporteur earlier this year and we welcome publication of the Report’s findings.

Our Strategic Approach to challenge and deter demand for prostitution and improve support for those with experience was published in February 2024. It recognises that prostitution cannot be considered in isolation, and sets out the Scottish Government’s collective approach, working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector.

In common with the Nordic Model, the Strategy seeks to enable women to safely, and sustainably, exit from prostitution.

While we continue work with partners to develop a wider improved support pathway, we are now in a position to make progress with an initial phase of this work. Collaborating with Police Scotland, we will look to challenge demand and improve support for women with experience of commercial sexual exploitation.

I met with key stakeholders earlier this month to outline this collaboration, which includes:

  • A secondment from the Scottish Government’s Violence against Women and Girls team to ensure that strategic connections to wider relevant Scottish Government initiatives are made.
  • Supporting the further development of Operation Begonia (already operational in Aberdeen) to lead to a national and consistent policing approach.
  • Funding Police Scotland to gather intelligence to understand the full extent of demand for commercial sexual exploitation across Scotland, helping to better reach victims and strengthen the response to tackling perpetrators

This is a key stage in implementing our Strategic Approach, ensuring that we increase the opportunities for women to access support whilst at the same time ever limiting the opportunities for those carrying out exploitation.