Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that crime groups based in Birmingham, Liverpool and London have county lines operations in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, how they are working with the Scottish Government to combat county lines gang activity.

County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs while breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade.

Between July 2024 and June 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 2,300 deal lines closed, 6,200 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,100 deal line holders), 3,200 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 600 knives seized.

While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces, which is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate a national law enforcement response.

NCLCC’s most recent Strategic Assessment found that Scotland was one of the top five importing areas for county lines in 2023/24. The County Lines Programme taskforces conduct joint operations with Police Scotland and are committed to intelligence sharing and cooperation to tackle county lines. In addition, NCLCC regularly coordinates national weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which police forces, including Police Scotland take part in.