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<p>County lines drug trafficking is a growing threat and one that this Government
is determined to tackle. A cross-government approach is essential to identify and
support children and young people who are criminally exploited by these ruthless gangs.</p><p>We
are working across government to enhance the response to children and young people
who are subject to criminal exploitation from county lines. Through our county lines
programme, the Home Office is investing £860,000 this financial year to provide specialist
one-to-one support for children and young people who at risk or involved in county
lines. We are also working in collaboration with other government departments to monitor
and respond to the impact of COVID-19 on county lines activity and exploitation.</p><p>We
are also committed to taking forward national learning and are working with the Department
for Education, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Health and Social Care
to examine the recommendations from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review
Panel’s report ‘It was Hard to Escape’, as well as those from other safeguarding reviews
relating to child criminal exploitation, in order to identify areas for improvement,
put in place support for vulnerable children, raise awareness of criminal exploitation
from county lines and ensure that the criminal justice response to county lines is
as effective and robust as possible.</p>
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