Between 2013 and 2018, 248 prostitutes were taken to court and accused of soliciting – but the same ones were arraigned multiple times.

According to figures presented in parliament by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia in response to questions posed by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina, it emerges that the same people were charged over and over again: 3.6 times on average.

The parliamentary question generated a number of statistics. For example, 30 of those charged were male, and 92 per cent of them were Maltese.

Of the 19 foreigners, the nationalities were: English (3), Sudanese (1) Libyan (1), Ukrainian (2) Brazilian (1), Colombian (1), Romanian (5), Bulgarian (4), Hungarian (1).

2018 has also been relatively quiet in terms of arrests. While there were 56 people arrested on average in 2013-2016, only 21 were arrested in 2017, and only three in the first nine months of 2018.

The localities where the arrests were made are fairly limited with Gżira, Marsa, Msida, Paola, Sliema, Ta’ Xbiex and Marsalforn as the only places listed.

Dr Farrugia also confirmed that there were no cases in the past five years of prostitutes being made to work against their will.