Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce youth-related gang violence in London.

To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation.

An estimated 14,000 children are identified as at risk or involved in child criminal exploitation. That is why this Government’s manifesto included a commitment to introduce a new offence of criminal exploitation of children, which we will bring forward as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.

County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, which includes funding for dedicated County Lines Taskforce in the Metropolitan Police, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.

The Government has also committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme (YFP), which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to ensure this cohort is identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities, through the provision of open access to mental health and careers support.