Chris Mole MP welcomed Vernon Coaker MP, Minister for Crime Reduction, to Ipswich to update him on the progress of the Ipswich Prostitution Strategy.

The Ipswich Prostitution Strategy is a forward thinking response to an issue brought into sharp relief by the 5 murders which occurred in December 2006. Local Authorities and Suffolk Police work with Suffolk Mental Health Partnership Trust (SMHPT) and the Drugs and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) to fight the root causes of street prostitution.

Key aspects of the strategy include: offering routes out of prostitution – for example through drug treatment programmes; tackling kerb-crawlers through utilising technologies such as CCTV and number plate recognition; and engaging with communities to make environments less hospitable to street prostitution. The overall strategic aim of the strategy is to remove street prostitution from Ipswich.

Chris said:

“Following the tragic events of December 2006, it was clear from today that Vernon and his colleagues at the Home Office are extremely impressed with the work going on in our town to reduce street prostitution. The key thing about today was ensuring that the Government can take the experience in Ipswich into account when developing national policies in the long term. It is clear that the Government have not forgotten the significance of what happened in our town.

“The central aim of the Ipswich Prostitution Strategy along with the work of the Somebody’s Daughter trust is to tackle the reasons that lead women into prostitution – to help and support them and to protect others whose quality of life is reduced by their activities. Through meetings like this, we can help expand this key agenda nationwide.”

Vernon Coaker said:

“Ipswich has done some very good work to address the issue of street prostitution. Ministers have been looking at experiences across the country and abroad in order to inform our next steps in tackling this problem which ruins lives and is a nuisance to those around them.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

-          Vernon Coaker MP is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office and has Ministerial responsibility for prostitution.

-          The full mission statement of the Ipswich Prostitution Strategy and more on its key stakeholders can be found at: http://www.ipswich.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/2780A615-452E-4356-995E-E083B06FF648/0/DraftIpswichStreetProstitutionStrategy.pdf