Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what benefits they found resulted from the national Ugly Mugs Scheme piloted by the Home Office; whether it was assessed as good value for money; and if so, what was the result.

Lord Bates

The National Ugly Mugs Scheme is a mechanism for reporting crimes committed against people involved in prostitution. The Home Office provided £108,000 for the pilot scheme that ran from April 2012 to March 2013, coordinated by the UK Network of Sex Worker Projects. The evaluation of the pilot is available on its website.

The previous Government supported the pilot as part of its drive to end violence against women and girls. This Government is pleased that the evaluation of the scheme shows that it was successful in increasing access to justice and protection for those involved in prostitution. Police forces have been encouraged to contribute financially to the scheme, given its crime prevention focus and its role in encouraging reporting and contributing to intelligence. That is a decision for individual forces, and the Home Office does not collect information regarding which forces have contributed.