SNP minister raises 'significant concerns' over Ash Regan prostitution bill

A SCOTTISH Government minister has highlighted “significant and deep concerns” about a new bill which could quash convictions for those involved in prostitution.

Siobhian Brown raised concerns about the move – which is part of legislation put forward by Alba MSP Ash Regan as part of her bill to criminalise the buying of sex.

The community safety minister insisted that quashing convictions was an “exceptional” measure and “not a step that can be taken lightly”.

Siobhian Brown (Image: Scottish Parliament) While Brown acknowledged Holyrood had passed legislation to quash convictions of those caught up in the Post Office Horizon scandal, she said the cost of this was “estimated to be £804,000 based on 200 people”.

She noted that documents submitted as part of Regan’s Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill suggested that since 1982 a total of 10,459 women have been convicted of soliciting.

With these documents also indicating that Police Scotland “currently holds 2773 case records involving 791 individuals”, Brown said this “raises some concerns about the accuracy of the associated costs – around £250k – detailed in the bill’s financial memorandum”.

Her comments came in a letter to Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee, which is due to scrutinise the legislation the Alba MSP has put forward.

She went on to state there was “insufficient detail” on how proposals to provide support to those involved in prostitution to help them change their lifestyle “would work in practice”, including how long such measures would be available for and what the costs would be.

Regan’s member’s bill also sets out to criminalise those buying sex while decriminalising those selling it.

Ash Regan Under the proposals, those convicted of buying sex could be fined up to £10k if the case was prosecuted in the sheriff courts – with these courts also able to impose jail sentences of up to six months.

Brown stressed that while the Scottish Government backed the “underlying intent of the bill to challenge men’s demand and to tackle commercial sexual exploitation”, she added there were still “significant questions and concerns regarding the measures within the bill and how they would work in practice, the extent to which they would deliver on the policy intent, and the associated financial implications”.

Her comments came after a paper published last week by the Scottish Government said evidence was “limited” on the impact of these “challenging demand approaches”.

In the wake of that, sex worker safety charity National Ugly Mugs urged MSPs to “pull the plug” on Regan’s “misguided and dangerous” bill.

Chief executive Lynsey Walton said: “Sex worker groups, alongside leading NGOs like Amnesty and the World Health Organisation, have long warned that criminalising the purchase of sex only serves to make life more difficult and dangerous for sex workers, while having no impact on trafficking and exploitation.

“We are pleased that the Scottish Government has now accepted that the international evidence backs this up.

“MSPs now need to pull the plug on Regan’s misguided and dangerous legislation, and focus on supporting sex workers’ rights to work safely and free from stigma.”

Regan has been contacted for comment.