Scotland's laws on prostitution have been declared unacceptable by a parliamentary committee.

MSPs said there was a need for an urgent examination of the issue north of the border.

But the local government committee is calling on the Scottish Parliament to reject a bill aimed at establishing tolerance zones amid fears that it would condone soliciting.

It is important that the issues that cause women to enter prostitution are addressed Trish Godman Committee convener

Margo MacDonald said she would press on with her attempt to have the member's bill, which she introduced in the parliament last October, added to the statute book.

The independent MSP, who was expelled from the Scottish National Party after she decided to stand as an independent candidate in May's elections, argued that her proposals would protect vulnerable women.

The committee said it had sympathy with her aims and intentions.

However, convener Trish Godman said: "Whilst we do not think it is the intention of the bill, we are concerned that implicit in its drafting is an acceptance that local authorities should manage services in such a way as to support prostitution within a designated zone.

Routes out

"The local government committee has heard evidence that poverty, abuse and drug addiction lead women into prostitution in the first place and that an extremely high number of women work to support their drug use.

"It is important that the issues that cause women to enter prostitution are addressed."

Mrs Godman said that those who gave evidence to the committee supported initiatives which provided routes out of prostitution.

Margo MacDonald brought forward the proposals

"It is with this in mind that we are calling on the executive to urgently establish an expert committee to examine the practice and effects of prostitution in Scotland," she said.

The committee said this review should be carried out with a view towards changing the current legislation to address the problems highlighted by Ms MacDonald's bill.

She had proposed the creation of tolerance zones where police would no longer prosecute women for soliciting.

The area would be carefully defined and would only apply at certain times of day.

Local authorities would be forced to consult nearby residents before any area could be designated a tolerance zone.

Street prostitution

Ms MacDonald said she would be reminding MSPs that her bill did not compel councils to set up a tolerance zone.

"It merely permits them to do so if they think it desirable," she said.

"In practice, a failure to pass the bill will merely prevent Aberdeen and Edinburgh from pursuing a course which they judge to be the most appropriate way of managing street prostitution in their cities."

She suggested that the parliament could pass her bill has an interim measure while the issues surrounding prostitution were examined.