Advertising By Prostitutes

EDM number 944 in 1997-98, proposed by Karen Buck on 09/03/1998.

That this House recognises the offence caused to members of the public by the extensive use of cards in telephone boxes advertising prostitutes' services in central London and other towns and cities across the country; notes that such cards are increasingly explicit and graphic and that the extent of carding is such that over 10 million cards were collected by BT between August 1996 and November 1997; notes also that prosecutions are limited deterrent to card distributors who view fines as an occupational hazard; welcomes the fact that BT operates a call-barring scheme to tackle illegal advertising of prostitutes' services in phone boxes but regrets the BT is the only telecom supplier operating such a scheme and welcomes the fact that OFTEL is now consulting on changes to the terms and conditions of operators' licences allowing an outgoing call-barring scheme and permitting all telecom operators to bar calls to any number used for advertising prostitutes' services in telephone kiosks; and seeks agreement from the President of the Board of Trade that the previous call-barring initiative will not be forwarded to the Restrictive Practices Court in order to allow negotiations about comprehensive call-barring to go ahead.

This motion has been signed by a total of 47 MPs.