University social policy experts Professor Roger Matthews and Professor Phil Hubbard have provided a briefing to MPs that could inform future changes in the law on prostitution.
Professor Matthews appeared before the All Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution on 26 February and Professor Hubbard on 14 March.
Both provided the parliamentary group, chaired by Gavin Shuker MP, with an overview of current legislation and identified possible policy options for future amendments to the law.
Professor Matthews said: ‘The convening of this All Party Parliamentary Group is very timely. There is growing consensus within the country that laws on prostitution need to be amended and updated.’
Professor Matthews was previously an advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution in 1995-96 and also an advisor to a working group convened in 2008-09 which resulted in the formulation of the sections on prostitution in the Policing and Crime Act (2009). Professor Hubbard’s work on prostitution has been cited in recent governmental reviews of sex work legislation in New South Wales and New Zealand, as well as having been cited in previous Home Office guidance on best practice in regulating street prostitution.