Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether particular types of retail outlets in high streets and town centres are used for money laundering from the sale of drugs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that cash intensive businesses such as barber shops and nail bars can be exploited by criminals seeking to launder their criminal cash from serious and organised crime. Addressing cash-based money laundering is one of the strategic priorities of the National Economic Crime Centre which sits within the National Crime Agency, and who are currently working with partners to facilitate an increased operational response to this threat.
In parallel, the National Police Chiefs’ Council economic crime co-ordinators are engaged in the development of Clear Hold Build strategies to help police forces tackle serious and organised crime. Clear Hold Build aims to reclaim and rebuild neighbourhoods affected by organised crime, including tackling financial crime on the high street.
Asked by: Leigh Ingham (Labour - Stafford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle drug related crime in Stafford constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the considerable impact of drug use and dealing on individuals, families and communities. Tackling this is a vital part of our missions to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and contribute to opportunities. That is why we are taking a collaborative, cross-government approach to drugs at a national level.
This Government is dedicated to reducing drug-related harms through prevention and treatment, while acting quickly and decisively to stop the criminals peddling these harmful substances. We also expect the police to intervene to tackle illicit drug use, recognising the significant harms it causes.
Delivery focused local drugs partnerships across England provide a whole-system, multi-agency response from police, probation, public health, the NHS and other local partners. The partnership in Staffordshire, led by the Police and Crime Commissioner, has recognised and responded to the impact locally of the illicit supply and misuse of synthetic cathinones, sometimes referred to as ‘monkey dust’.
It is also crucial that the Government tackles the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation. County Lines are the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade. Since July 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
Also, by disrupting drug supply chains, increasing treatment access, and targeting organised crime, we can reduce anti-social behaviour, knife crime, and the exploitation of young people through county lines.
The Government will set out its approach to drugs in more detail later this year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the level of underage drug use across the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are several surveys estimating the number of young drug users in the UK: According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, in the year ending March 2024, 16.5% of people aged 16-24 in England and Wales reported using a drug in the last 12 months (approximately 971,000 people). This is a reduction from 17.6% of people aged 16-24 in the year ending March 2023 (approximately 1,035,000 people).
According to the Scottish Health Survey 2023, 26% of people aged 16-24 in Scotland reported using a drug in the last 12 months. This is an increase from 22% in 2021.
According to the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey, in 2023, 9% of children aged 11-15 in England reported taking a drug in the last year. This is a reduction from 12% of children aged 11-15 in 2021.
This Government is committed to tackling these numbers head on. I know the most sustainable approach to reducing drug use across society in the long term is through preventing use among children and young people, and work continues across Government to proactively support this cohort by building their long-term resilience and intervening early to stop them from being drawn into crime and a range of wider risky behaviours.
This Government is also committed to tackling county lines and drugs supply. County Lines are the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Since July 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people. Over 260 children and young people have also received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service since July.
Developing the evidence base on what works to facilitate behaviour change and prevent escalation to more harmful use and or dependency is an important part of that. I look forward to receiving the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ report which will provide insights into effective whole-system approaches to prevention of drug use in children and young people.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle drug-related crime in rural communities.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the considerable impact of drug use and dealing on individuals, families and communities in rural and urban constituencies. Tackling this is a vital part of our missions to deliver safer streets and improve health outcomes, and that is why we are taking a collaborative, cross-government approach to drugs at a national level.
We expect the police to intervene to tackle illicit drug use, recognising the significant harms it causes. We are dedicated to reducing these drug-related harms through prevention and treatment, while acting quickly and decisively to stop the criminals peddling these harmful substances.
County Lines are the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Since July 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
As part of the Programme, the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place 25 November to 1 December 2024 and resulted in 261 lines closed, as well as 1,660 arrests, 1,434 individuals safeguarded and 557 weapons seized.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering people smuggling in North Africa in each of the last five years.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The North Africa Cooperation on Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking (NACSAT) project provided £3.1 million for a UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) anti-people smuggling programme across Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Egypt in the three years up to November 2021. Across fiscal years 2022 to 2025, the UK has provided a further £490,000 to UNODC programmes training North Africa law enforcement and border officials to identify and respond to cases of suspected people smuggling. The Foreign Secretary is clear that migration, including the disruption of people smuggling and organised immigration crime, is a top Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office priority.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle drug-related crime in rural constituencies.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the considerable impact of drug use and dealing on individuals, families and communities in rural and urban constituencies. Tackling this is a vital part of our missions to deliver safer streets and improve health outcomes, and that is why we are taking a collaborative, cross-government approach to drugs at a national level.
We expect the police to intervene to tackle illicit drug use, recognising the significant harms it causes. We are dedicated to reducing these drug-related harms through prevention and treatment, while acting quickly and decisively to stop the criminals peddling these harmful substances.
County Lines are the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Since July 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
As part of the Programme, the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place 25 November to 1 December 2024 and resulted in 261 lines closed, as well as 1,660 arrests, 1,434 individuals safeguarded and 557 weapons seized.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to tackle the flow of illicit drugs in Greater Manchester.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling the criminals running drug supply chains is a priority for this government as part of our mission to reduce serious violence and exploitation. Key to achieving our aim of halving knife crime is targeting the drug gangs which drive serious violence, where one quarter of knife homicides are connected to drugs markets.
In partnership with the NCA and policing we are targeting organised crime groups at every stage of the drug supply chain, combatting illicit finance, disrupting the hidden channels through which criminals communicate, and supporting law enforcement agencies with dedicated personnel to identify high-harm threats and opportunities for disruption.
In addition, to disrupt county lines, which is the most violent and exploitative model of drug distribution, we are also providing, through our County Lines Programme, dedicated funding to Greater Manchester Police to support activity to tackle this issue.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle county lines drug trafficking in (a) coastal communities and (b) Dorset.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
County lines is the most violent and exploitative model of drug distribution nationally, and a harmful form of Child Criminal Exploitation. We committed in our manifesto to go after the gangs who lure young people into violence and crime, and we will deliver a new offence of Child Criminal Exploitation in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill.
While the the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue which affects all forces. This is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response.
The County Lines Programme taskforces regularly conduct joint operations with other forces, and we have established a dedicated fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Dorset Police.
Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, 500 arrests (including the arrest and charge of over 260 deal line holders) and 800 safeguarding referrals for children and vulnerable people. Over 220 children and young people have also received dedicated specialist support through our county lines support service since July.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help prevent (a) arms, (b) drugs and (c) people trafficking through Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are taking a regional approach to help prevent arms, drugs and people trafficking networks through Syria. Our efforts include support to the Lebanese and Jordanian Armed Forces to tackle more effectively incursions by drugs and weapons smugglers from Syria, and we provide support to the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government to respond to threats posed by serious organised crime groups, including those operating in Syria.
Additionally, we are working with international partners to raise awareness and take action on the risks posed by the captagon industry, which fuels regional instability and generates vast revenues for criminal gangs and armed groups in Syria and across the region.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January to Question 22097 on Drugs: Organised Crime, what steps she is taking to tackle cuckooing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is clear that cuckooing is an appalling practice associated with violence, exploitation and anti-social behaviour.
Through the County Lines Programme we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs, including those who take over the homes of vulnerable people.
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission will continue to tackle these issues and we will make further announcements in the normal way in due course.