What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the effect on trafficked women of the proposed closure of the Metropolitan Police's human trafficking unit.

What her latest estimate is of the number of women who have been trafficked (a) into the UK and (b) from one part of the UK to another for the purposes of sexual exploitation in the last 12 months.

There are regular discussions between Equality Ministers and ministerial colleagues in the Home Office on the question of human trafficking. Trafficking is by nature a covert activity, so it is difficult to be precise about the numbers. The Association of Chief Police Officers, the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre and others are on course for an estimate of the number of women trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation to be made available inearly 2010.

I am very concerned about the proposed closure of the trafficking unit in the Met, as particularly specialised skills are involved in the unit. What is the Minister's view on the issue, particularly bearing in mind that I have had a letter from Cressida Dick saying that it is inevitable that the change will take place because of reduced funding from the Government to the Met? That certainly came as a surprise to me, as I thought that the Government had been very generous to the Metropolitan Police Service in terms of funding via the Greater London authority. She says that the-

Order. The hon. Gentleman should resume his seat. We want to get off to a good start at this session. The question is simply too long. I will ask the Minister for Women and Equality to respond to the part of it-quite a long part-that she has heard.

In order to reassure hon. Members that the Government, the Metropolitan police and police forces around the country will be taking strong action to investigate and bring to court those engaged in human trafficking for the purposes of exploitation, I should explain that human trafficking includes the offences of breaching immigration rules, rape, assault, kidnap, abduction, fraud and serious organised crime. A unit was set up in the Metropolitan police to focus on the new context of human trafficking, which involves all those crimes. Training is under way for both prosecutors and police, and we have the UK Human Trafficking Centre. A unit in the police was funded especially to upskill and improve the understanding of the Metropolitan police so that the whole issue could be mainstreamed. Funding has been made available for that, and it continues.

The Leader of the House has shown her passion and care on that issue, but does she share my concern that although the police are doing very well at breaking up brothels that use people who have been trafficked into this country, the real problem is at the borders? We should tackle that and try to stop it, but we do not seem to be doing so very successfully. Could we do more at the borders?

We are working internationally, across Europe, through the UK Border Agency, which is working with its counterparts, to identify victims of trafficking. We have worked through Eurojust, which is the European network of prosecutors; and we have worked through European police forces. There is international action going on; it is by definition an international crime. There is also work taking place to freeze assets internationally, because sometimes many more than one or two countries will be involved. This is serious and organised crime; it is international; and we are all working together, as well as domestically, to track down the perpetrators and protect the victims.

But the unfortunate truth is that it is very hard to investigate and successfully prosecute cases of trafficking and sexual exploitation, and the Metropolitan police unit was making inroads. Will the Minister confirm that if the success in increasing the number of prosecutions does not continue, the decision will be revisited?

I pay tribute to the police and prosecutors for bringing to court so many cases in which the victim was an unbelievably vulnerable victim of human trafficking, but still the authorities managed to support them to give evidence and bring the traffickers to justice. Since the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, there have been 113 convictions for human trafficking offences, but beyond that there have been many more convictions for offences such as rape, fraud and assault. The police and prosecutors are making good progress on bringing offenders to justice, and that will protect victims. Obviously, we keep-

So why close the unit?

Because we want to ensure that these issues are mainstreamed. This is not some separate business for some separate unit; this is serious and organised crime. Incidentally, the Serious Organised Crime Agency works internationally as well.

But dealing with trafficked women is a very specialised procedure, and the issue is not just about trafficked women, either. What about forced labour and child trafficking? I can get my head around the Met's clubs and vice unit dealing with that aspect, but what on earth will happen to the very specialist skills on the very special aspects surrounding trafficked women and children?

I think that there are particularly specialised skills in terms of supporting the victims, and that is why we maintain financial support for the POPPY project, the Eaves housing charity and other organisations that support victims. However, all those involved in investigating serious and organised crime need to be aware. When I was Solicitor-General, I saw one case in which a woman had escaped from a brothel where she had been held captive and, effectively, raped 10 times a day-day in, day out, week in, week out. She found her way to a local police station, and even though she hardly spoke any English they understood and realised what had happened to her. We have to ensure that every police officer in every police station understands this issue. She cannot be expected to find her way to a specialised unit. This has to be understood across the board and mainstreamed, and we will give all financial support to the police and other authorities to ensure that that happens.

We all agree that human trafficking is the modern-day slave trade and remains a prevalent form of violence, particularly against woman and girls. There is a need to take strong action against trafficking. Does the Minister agree that reports such as the recent one from London Metropolitan university, which downplayed the extent of trafficking and was based on asking a very small number of women whether they thought that they had been trafficked-hardly the best basis for evidence-do not help to make the case for action? The case for ensuring that every police officer is suitably trained and understands human trafficking and related issues would be far better made if we raised awareness generally about the extent of the problem. What are the Government doing to ensure that we do just that?

I wholeheartedly agree with the right hon. Lady. We have to make it absolutely clear that although we do not know the exact numbers, we have never based our case for concern on the overall numbers; it is enough if even one woman has been kidnapped, brought across borders to this country and bought and sold like a modern-day slave. When I was Solicitor-General, I came across one case in which two gangs brought a girl to a supermarket car park and bartered over her; she was sold from one gang to the other. If there is even one case such as that-and there are many more-that is enough for us to take tough action.

I take this opportunity to deplore the reporting in The Guardian; it sought to imply that because we did not know the specific numbers, or because some estimate had been wrong, somehow we were on the wrong track. Those involved should be ashamed of themselves.