Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle county lines operations in Lincolnshire.

County lines is the most violent and exploitative model of drug distribution nationally, and a harmful form of Child Criminal Exploitation. The Government’s manifesto included a commitment to introduce a new offence of criminal exploitation of children, to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime.

While the the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue which is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response.

The County Lines Programme taskforces regularly conduct joint operations with other forces, and we have established a dedicated fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Lincolnshire Police.

Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,100 line closures, over 15,600 arrests and over 8,000 safeguarding referrals.