Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the British Transport Police on the adequacy of its procedures for (a) identifying victims of (i) modern slavery and (ii) county lines and (b) referring them for support.

There is no place for modern slavery or county lines in our society and the British Transport Police (BTP) work to make the railway a hostile environment for criminals committing these offences and a place of safety for victims of exploitation.

The BTP are having much success in their programmes to address these issues. In 2024/25 there were over 230 children safeguarded and 14 modern slavery charges secured by BTP.

The BTP are one of five Police forces with a dedicated County Lines Task Force funded by the Home Office. The taskforce is an intelligence-led proactive unit focused on tackling drug supply and criminal child exploitation, working across the whole rail network in England, Scotland and Wales.

I can reassure you that safeguarding and identifying victims is at the heart of the taskforce’s operations and they have dedicated safeguarding professionals embedded in the team to put support in place for vulnerable individuals.

Whilst this vital work takes place year round, I would like to highlight the work the force did recently, during the national County Lines week of action which ran from 23 June – 29 June 2025. BTP’s County Lines Taskforce ran 48 operations across England, Scotland and Wales which saw 38 people offered support after being identified as victims of exploitation by drugs gangs.