The number of people reported to the police for buying sex has risen five-fold in Sweden in the past year, according to new figures.

During the first half of 2009 a total of 148 people were reported for paying prostitutes for sex. The number for the same period this year was 770.

A large part of the rise - 430 cases - was due to the discovery of a major prostitution ring in Jämtland county, north-western Sweden. But even when these cases are discounted, the figures had more than doubled.

But police said the dramatic increase was probably not due to a sudden rise in the number of men visiting prostitutes. Rather, they credit increased measures to repress prostitution. An extra 40 million kronor has been allocated this year to pay for training and strengthening of the police's operations against the sex trade.

The national pattern was reflected in Sweden's major cities. In Skåne, which includes Malmö, some 20 cases of paying for sex were reported during the whole of 2009. So far this year, 50 cases have been reported. There, the extra money has been used to increase internet monitoring of the sex trade, which has resulted both in more reports of people paying for sex and in a fall in street prostitution.

A 'shock horror' sex scandal is rocking the Swedish government in the run-up to general elections, with the Aftonbladet newspaper reporting - three days after his resignation - that labour minister Sven Otto Littorin once hired a prostitute.

Paying for sex has been a crime in Sweden since 1999. Proven interactions with prostitutes are punishable with fines and, in some cases, imprisonment.

The affair is all the more explosive because Littorin, did not mention the paper's allegations while announcing his resignation on Wednesday, even though he reportedly had been informed of the charges shortly before.

A few hours earlier, Aftonbladet had confronted Littorin with information and evidence provided by a 30-year-old prostitute that the minister had paid for her services four years ago.

Littorin is a member of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative party and joined Reinfeldt's cabinet as minister for employment in October 2006. The premier said that Littorin denied the paper's allegations before his resignation. Reinfeldt said he doesn't know how much the affair may harm him in the upcoming campaign.

New plans to criminalise prostitution will be launched in the autumn, following a a one sided consultation with selected groups on how to tackle the oldest profession in the world.

Scottish Labour MSP Trish Godman has asked clerks to draw up a list of agencies that should be consulted ahead of a bill being drafted.

MSPs rejected attempts to include legislation on prostitution in the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, which was passed last week. However, Godman believes this was due to the way the amendment was written and the lack of consultation. She believes there is cross-party sympathy for trying to provide better protection for women who are trafficked, exploited and vulnerable to violence from pimps and punters.

She hopes to pass legislation before the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which anti-prostitution agencies have warned could act as a magnet for traffickers and prostitutes from across the UK and overseas. [Perhaps they are expecting the 40,000 sex workers who so noticeably didn't bother go to South Africa for the World Cup].

Godman said: There will be a full consultation, put together over the summer, but not put out until the beginning of September or the end of August.

She believes she can gain the support of the Scottish Government after discussing her plans with justice secretary Kenny MacAskill. There is also the possibility that the bill will be introduced after next year's election, when the make up of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament will be different.

The Scottish Government does not believe that legislation and enforcement alone can make the industry safer, but will consider it in tandem with other measures, such as support through groups such as the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) in Glasgow and Scotpep in Edinburgh.

A Swedish law punishing the purchase -not the sale -of sex, has has reduced street prostitution in half, but the Scandinavian country is still facing sex sold over the Internet, a Swedish report said.

The evaluation shows that the ban on the purchase of sexual services has had the intended effect and is an important instrument in preventing and combating prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes, the report said.

The report, handed to Justice Minister Beatrice Ask, maintained that prostitution in Sweden, unlike in comparable countries, has not in any case increased since the introduction of the ban on buying sexual services went into effect in 1999.

While the law punishing the client rather than the prostitute may not have caused a dramatic drop in prostitution as a whole, its true triumph, according to the report, is that street prostitution in Sweden has been halved.

The report also recommends that men should be liable to a a year in jail for buying sex, rather than the 6 months current maximum sentence.

Offsite: UK Nutters Pounce

Unsurprisingly Julie Bindel has got in first to glory in the report

See Legalising prostitution is not the answer from guardian.co.uk