Meeting of the Parliament 18 December 2025 [Draft]
Prostitution generates billions of pounds globally for the sex trade, and it is the world’s third-largest criminal industry after the drugs and arms trades, yet it is the public purse that bears the cost.
In Scotland, prostitution is among the highest-cost forms of gender-based violence. Evidence that I recently shared with the Government shows that violence linked to prostitution alone costs £382 million each year—that is 0.6 per cent of the Scottish budget, or £69 per person—and that lifetime public sector costs reach up to £350,000 per exploited individual. Does the Government agree that it is only by tackling the root cause, through criminal deterrence of sex buying and sustained investment in prevention and trauma-informed support, exit and recovery services, that we can reduce that crisis spending—