Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle county lines drug trafficking in Worcestershire.

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.

That is why we are investing £25m to boost efforts to tackle county lines. Our overall package launched in October last year includes: expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre; increased disruption on the rail networks by the British Transport Police County Lines Taskforce; police intensification in three key exporting areas (including in the West Midlands region and Metropolitan and Merseyside Police areas); investment in new technology; and increased support for victims. Our funding has also supported operations across England and Wales, including with West Mercia Police.

Our investment is already delivering results. Following the £5m we invested in 2019-2020, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, West Midlands and British Transport Police closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over £3 million, and made over 100 weapons seizures between November 2019 and March 2020.

The most recent county lines ‘week of intensification’, which all police forces took part in and was co-ordinated by NCLCC, took place in September and resulted in over 1,000 arrests, drugs worth more than £1m seized and over 1,500 vulnerable individuals safeguarded.