Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on tackling county line drugs gangs.

This Government is determined to crack down on the county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and have a devastating impact on our communities. On 6 December the Government published a ten-year Strategy to combat illicit drugs which sets out a whole-system approach of how the Government is doing more than ever to cut off the supply of drugs by criminal gangs.

Through the Strategy, we will bolster our flagship County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over the next three years to tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model yet seen. By 2024, we expect this to result in over 2,000 more county lines closed, through a sustained attack on the distribution model.

This new funding will build on our progress in tackling drugs supply and county lines. Since November 2019, through our programme, the Police have already closed more than 1,500 lines, made over 7,400 arrests, seized £4.3 million in cash and significant quantities of drugs, and safeguarded more than 4,000 vulnerable people.