Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, for giving us some figures about trafficking. Of course, they can only be indicative ones because there is no precise knowledge. However, they point clearly to the major scale of this totally unacceptable practice. I mention that to the best of my knowledge there have been approximately 30 successful prosecutions of traffickers so far. Have there additionally been some unsuccessful cases? When she comes to reply could the noble Baroness also indicate when Operation Pentameter is likely to be repeated? I hope that it will be very soon this year. It was successful as far as it went first time round. Ratification of the convention has been mentioned. My strong hope is that signing will happen before the end of March and ratification will follow as soon as practically possible thereafter. I have three Questions for Written Answer down about what changes in legislation will be necessary before we can ratify the convention; I hope we can have a positive answer about that. Finally, how do we deal with traffickers? Will successful action against traffickers count towards the targets of the various police services and towards the efficiency points which they earn by the work that they do? As to the amendment, like the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, I would prefer to see traffickers being prosecuted rather than hobbled or to some extent interrupted in their activities by these orders. I look forward to the reply.