NEW cash to reduce the number of men buying sex has been announced at a conference on prostitution.

Experts on trafficking and abuse were amongst the speakers at the Purchasing Power – Men Who Buy Sex event in Glasgow yesterday, where Community Safety Minister Ash Denham announced plans for a new fund.

The £100,000 pot will also back "frontline projects" supporting women, the Scottish Government says.

Set to launch in the coming weeks, it's part of Holyrood efforts to tackle violence against women and girls and a consultation on how best to challenge men’s demand for prostitution, support females involved in the sex trade and help them to get out of it is also planned.

Announcing the move, Denham said: “The harsh reality for women engaged in prostitution is that they are at risk of violence and victimisation and their sexual health may be compromised.

“While recorded crimes for prostitution have substantially decreased in the last ten years, the circumstances that may lead to involvement in prostitution remain. In 2020, much of the related harm occurs behind closed doors and is hidden from public view.

“The fund I have announced today will support new and innovative work aimed at addressing those issues through frontline services, as well as initiatives to challenge demand for prostitution.”

The announcement comes ahead of International Women's Day on March 8 and was made before MSPs came together for a debate marking that date.

A motion put forward by Equalities Minister Christina McKelvie emphasised that equality for women and girls "has not yet been achieved in Scotland or around the world".

Ruth Maguire, the convener of Holyrood's Equalities and Human Rights Committee, welcomed recent legislation against coercive control but said "the spectrum of men's violence against women and girls seems of epidemic proportions".

She went on: "As long as female bodies are objectified, commodified and reduced to something to be bought and sold, used and traded, we will not have equality or justice and women and girls will continue to suffer violence.

"At a time when Teen Vogue suggests that prostitution is a job like any other to girls and young women, when the most common search criteria on a porn site are about abuses of women, abuses of girls, violence and rape, and sex-for-rent adverts can still be seen, I'm very grateful that the Scottish Government is clear on the violence of prostitution and importantly is considering a more robust approach and tackling male demand for prostituted women and girls."