Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many county line phone numbers have been shut down in each month since December 2019.

The National Crime Agency’s most recent strategic assessment of serious and organised crime found that more than 3,000 unique county lines deal line numbers were identified in 2019, of which 800 to 1,100 lines were estimated to be active during a given month.

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of arrests conducted by each police force in England and Wales on an annual basis. Data are held at the offence group level only (for example ‘Drug offences’). Information on the number of arrests that have been made in operations targeting county lines gangs in each month are not held centrally. The latest bulletin can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019

We are investing £20m of dedicated funding in 2020/21 to further increase activity against these ruthless gangs. This builds on the £5m programme of work delivered in 19/20 to uplift the law enforcement response. Initial assessment of the outcomes of £5m investment in 19/20 demonstrate it has had a direct impact in disrupting county lines.