Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address county lines drug trafficking and safeguard children from being exploited by such crimes.

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 £25m to boost law enforcement efforts in England and Wales to tackle these ruthless gangs. Our overall package launched in October last year and includes: expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC), increased disruption on the rail networks by the British Transport Police’s County Lines Taskforce, operational activity against high harm lines in the three major exporting force areas (the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, West Midlands), investment in new technology, and increased support for victims.

Our investment is already delivering results; between November 2019 and March 2020, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, West Midlands and the British Transport Police made over 650 arrests, closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over £3 million, made over 100 weapons seizures, and safeguarded a number of individuals, including 140 children. The most recent county lines ‘Week of Intensification’ conducted 14-20 September also resulted in over 1,000 arrests, drugs worth more than £1m seized and over 1,500 vulnerable individuals safeguarded.

We are significantly increasing investment in specialist support for children and young people involved in county lines to help them exit and rebuild their lives. We are funding St Giles Trust £860,000 this financial year to provide specialist one-to-one support in London, Merseyside and the West Midlands and are also continuing to fund Missing People’s SafeCall service, a specialist 24/7 helpline which provides advice and support to children, young people and parents/carers concerned about county lines exploitation.