Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of her Department's budget is allocated to tackling county lines 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. That is why we are investing a dedicated £40m this year to tackle drugs supply and county lines and surge our activity against these ruthless gangs bringing our total dedicated investment to over £65m since November 2019.

Tackling drugs supply and county lines is a key priority for police and law enforcement agencies who receive core funding to respond to a range of serious and organised crime threats, including drugs supply. In total, the Home Office budget for 21/22 is £14.2bn, which includes funding for policing and fire, securing the borders and controlling immigration and issuing passports and visas.

The £40m investment provided this financial year has allowed us to expand and build upon our successful County Lines Programme which, since launching in November 2019, has already seen more than 1,500 lines closed, over 7,400 arrests, £4.3 million in cash and significant quantities of drugs seized, and more than 4,000 vulnerable people safeguarded.

Our programme investment includes funding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to improve the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. We have also increased disruption on the rail networks through the British Transport Police’s dedicated County Lines Taskforce and directly fund police intensification in the top three exporting areas (the Metropolitan Police Service, Merseyside Police, and West Midlands Police). In addition, this year we have established a dedicated fund to help local police forces tackle the scourge of county lines. We are also funding specialist support for young people at risk of county lines exploitation and their families.

Lastly, we are funding the MPS-led Social Media Hub which brings together a dedicated team of police officers and staff who work with Social Media platforms to tackle gang related serious violence perpetrated online, including county lines activity.

County lines drug dealing is a domestic issue, so our engagement with international partners on this is limited. However, we engage with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime and other international partners on a range of drug policy issues.