Children: Covert Human Intelligence Sources

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Yes, it does.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is the increase due to the amount of criminals who are now using young people, especially in the drugs-related elements of crime? What are the Government doing to address that problem?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, a number of complex matters are driven by knife crime, by gangs, by county lines and by drugs, and the noble Lord is right to raise the issue. I have gone through the various things we are doing on knife crime—including the Offensive Weapons Bill—and the various aspects of what we are doing to tackle drugs, most notably a public health approach to the issue.