UK Rebuffs FOIA Query About Gov. Subsidies for Porn Gigs

UNITED KINGDOM—A small item today reveals a spat of sorts over attempts by the British media to inquire about the number of adult entertainment jobs that have been procured through government subsidy programs Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme, which are overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). As AVN has previously reported, government subsidies for jobs in adult entertainment have drawn the ire of at least one Labour MP who wants them scotched, despite the fact that no actual sex-related jobs are being subsidized. According to the website Recruiter, however, an attempt to get some actual numbers about the program has been rebuffed. The site reported, "The FOI request was: ‘How many people have found work in the adult entertainment industry or sex industry through Jobcentres or the Work Programme in the latest period for which figures are available?’ "The DWP response said that the government took action to ensure [that] jobs in the adult entertainment industry which might exploit jobseekers were not advertised through Jobcentre Plus." it added. Specifically, the DWP commented somewhat in a huff, "The Welfare Reform Act 2012 ensured that vacancies which involve performing sexual activities were banned from being advertised on government websites and a distinction was made in law to differentiate between performers and ancillary workers, those people selling (retailing), manufacturing and distributing of adult entertainment products and ancillary staff eg. cleaners and bar staff." As far as any requested numbers go, the agency as much as told the requesting party to go stuff it, adding insult to injury by admitting that while that it did have some of the information “falling within the description specified in your request, but this is not held centrally for ancillary workers," and anyway, the cost of retrieving the data exceeded the limit of £600, so, basically, "Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the Department is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing your request further."