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1331421

registered interest
date	09/06/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle county lines drug trafficking and safeguard children from exploitation; and whether she plans to increase funding to (a) Enfield and Haringey Metropolitan Police Service, (b) Enfield Council and (c) grassroots community organisations in Enfield North constituency to help tackle drug trafficking and safeguard children from exploitation.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Feryal Clark
uin	13246
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2021 answer text <p>The Government recognises the devastating impact of county lines activity on children and vulnerable people.</p><p>We are determined to disrupt these ruthless gangs and put an end to exploitation. On 20 January the Government announced £40m of dedicated investment for 2021/22 to tackle drugs supply and county lines, doubling our investment from last year. This includes funding for The Metropolitan Police’s Operation Orochi, which provides a dedicated taskforce to tackle county lines activity.</p><p>Since it was launched, in November 2019, our County Lines Programme has already seen more than 780 lines closed, over 5,100 arrests, £2.9 million in cash and significant quantities of drugs seized, and more than 1,200 vulnerable people safeguarded.</p><p>In addition, we continue to fund specialist support available for those affected by county lines exploitation including through Missing People’s SafeCall service. This national service provides confidential, specialist advice and support to young people and their families/carers who are affected by county lines exploitation anywhere in England and Wales.</p><p>From 2019-2022, £105.5 million has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 areas worst affected by serious violence, with £21,000,000 allocated to the MOPAC to develop the London Violence Reduction Unit.</p><p>We are also driving targeted action to respond to exploitation through the Home Office-funded Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society. The Prevention Programme has coordinators in each of the ten policing regions, including London.</p><p>This financial year, the Home Office is also continuing to fund Young People’s Advocates in London to support young women and girls at risk of or experiencing exploitation by gangs including county lines.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 18/06/2021 13:38:29 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4822 label Biography information for Feryal Clark

1304451

registered interest
date	22/03/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps her Department is taking to protect vulnerable children from county lines drugs networks.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Mick Whitley
uin	913715
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would like to group this question with question 31.</p><p>We are determined to roll up county lines and protect vulnerable children from this harmful form of exploitation.</p><p>Through our £25m county lines programme we have already seen 3,400 people arrested, more than 550 lines closed and more than 770 vulnerable people safeguarded.</p><p>We have also increased investment in dedicated one-to-one support for county lines victims and their families.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 22/03/2021 16:25:57 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4755 label Biography information for Mick Whitley

1304456

registered interest
date	22/03/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps her Department is taking to protect vulnerable children from county lines drugs networks.
tabling member constituency	Luton South
tabling member printed	Rachel Hopkins
uin	913729
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>We are determined to roll up county lines and protect vulnerable children from this harmful form of exploitation.</p><p>Through our £25m county lines programme we have already seen 3,400 people arrested, more than 550 lines closed and more than 770 vulnerable people safeguarded.</p><p>We have also increased investment in dedicated one-to-one support for county lines victims and their families.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 22/03/2021 16:27:19 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4873 label Biography information for Rachel Hopkins

1304558

registered interest
date	22/03/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to protect vulnerable children from county lines drugs networks in (a) Slough and (b) the South East.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	173141
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2021 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The Home Office is currently considering a response to this question and will respond shortly.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Government recognises the devastating impact of county lines activity on children and vulnerable people.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are determined to disrupt these ruthless gangs and put an end to exploitation. In January we announced £40 million of new money to tackle county lines and drugs supply in the financial year 2021/22. This will bring the total invested in tackling this threat to £65 million since November 2019.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Through our £25m county lines programme we have already seen 3,400 people arrested, more than 550 lines closed and more than 770 vulnerable people safeguarded. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are also investing £105.5m into 18 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) until March 2022 to tackle the root causes of serious violence via a whole system approach which can include activity to prevent and support victims of county lines.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Thames Valley VRU, backed by £3.48m investment to develop and sustain their VRU in reducing serious violence, are also targeting and supporting victims of county lines. For example, Thames Valley have established an enhanced information sharing network, which shares information on young people that might be at risk of county lines with specialist departments. The VRU can then provide support for those young people by introducing early intervention strategies embedded within the trauma informed approach. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In addition, we have extended the specialist support available for those affected by county lines exploitation and we continue to fund Missing People’s SafeCall service which provides confidential, specialist advice and support to young people and their families/carers who are affected by county lines exploitation anywhere in England and Wales.</ins></p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 30/03/2021 16:46:20 question first ministerially corrected 06/04/2021 10:02:50 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins previous answer version 94512 answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1287965

registered interest
date	22/02/2021
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what activity her Department has participated in to prevent county lines gangs connecting with looked after children in children’s homes.
tabling member constituency	Croydon Central
tabling member printed	Sarah Jones
uin	156522
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2021 answer text <p>The Home Office is working closely with colleagues across government, including with the Department for Education, to ensure children in care homes are kept safe from grooming and exploitation.</p><p>The Government wants to make sure that all homes are providing high quality care that meets each child’s individual needs, keeps them safe and enables them to fulfil their full potential. Ofsted inspects all children’s homes at least once per year and at present, 80% of homes are rated good or outstanding. In April 2015, DfE introduced the Children’s Homes Regulations (England) which included Quality Standards for children’s homes, specifying the outcomes that children must be supported to achieve while living in children’s homes.</p><p>We are currently supporting the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which is taking a fundamental look at what is needed to make a real difference to the needs, experiences and outcomes of the children supported by children’s social care, including those in children’s homes.</p><p>Through our county lines programme the Home Office has provided up to £860,000 to provide specialist one-to-one support in London, the West Midlands and Merseyside to under 25’s and their families who are criminally exploited through county lines. Through this investment we are also delivering awareness sessions to care home staff to increase their understanding of criminally exploited children and young people.</p><p>We have also funded the Prevention Programme to deliver targeted virtual training sessions focussing on child sexual abuse and exploitation to children’s homes in the North East and North West and have worked alongside the British Transport Police to provide intelligence-led interventions to children’s homes to ensure appropriate safeguarding actions are taken in response.</p><p>The Department for Education is also funding the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme to help safeguarding partners in local areas develop a strategic response to child exploitation and risk of harm from outside the family home, in particular child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation, including county lines drug trafficking and modern slavery.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins grouped question UIN 156521 question first answered 25/02/2021 14:55:35 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4631 label Biography information for Sarah Jones

1236696

registered interest
date	22/09/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2020 to Question 53408 on Drugs: Organised Crime, what work is currently being undertaken by her Department in collaboration with (a) the Department for Health and Social Care, (b) the Ministry of Justice, (c) the Department for Education and (d) local authorities to tackle county lines drug trafficking and safeguard vulnerable children from exploitation.
tabling member constituency	Gateshead
tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
uin	93579
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2020 answer text <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> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 29/09/2020 09:04:53 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns

1196328

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Education and (b) Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on ensuring that vulnerable children are not exposed to greater risk of county lines recruitment when not in education due to the covid-19 lockdown.
tabling member constituency	Croydon Central
tabling member printed	Sarah Jones
uin	47422
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2020 answer text <p>The Home Secretary attends a regular ministerial group, also attended by the Department for Education (DfE) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which discusses a range of issues related to COVID-19 including the impact on vulnerable cohorts.  The Home Office Minister for Safeguarding also has regular discussions with DfE about the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable children, including those at risk of criminal exploitation through county lines.</p><p>In addition, the Home Office is working closely with law enforcement partners and charities to monitor the ongoing threat to young people from county lines exploitation.  This year, we are investing £20m to uplift the law enforcement response and increase the support available to those affected.  This is in addition to continuing to the fund the Missing People SafeCall service which provides specialist advice and support to young people and families who are concerned about county lines exploitation.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 20/05/2020 13:34:14 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4631 label Biography information for Sarah Jones

1183739

registered interest
date	09/03/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government plans to take to tackle sexual exploitation occurring as a result of county lines activity.
tabling member constituency	Streatham
tabling member printed	Bell Ribeiro-Addy
uin	27058
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2020 answer text <p>The Government recognises the devastating impact of county lines activity on children and vulnerable people which can include both sexual and criminal exploitation.</p><p>We are determined to disrupt these ruthless gangs and put an end to the exploitation associated with county lines. The Home Office has announced £25m of targeted investment over this year and next to uplift the law enforcement response to this exploitative model of drugs supply and to increase specialist support to children, young people and their families who are affected.</p><p>This is in addition to providing £3.6m to establish the new National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) in September 2018, which has significantly enhanced our cross-border intelligence and activity on county lines to better safeguard and protect victims of county lines. Work is ongoing to protect the exploited and target the offenders, and in four separate weeks of law enforcement intensification over 2,500 arrests have been made and over 3,000 vulnerable individuals have been engaged for safeguarding.</p><p>The Government provides a range of support for county lines victims including: funding Young People’s Advocates in Birmingham, Manchester and London to work directly with gang-affected women and girls, especially if they have been victims, or are at risk, of sexual violence by gangs including county lines; funding through the Trusted Relationships fund of £13 million to help foster relationships between frontline professionals and young people at risk of sexual exploitation including exploitation through county lines; and the £22m Early Intervention Youth Fund is funding 10 projects which will specifically address those at risk of involvement in county lines and criminal exploitation.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 17/03/2020 17:26:39 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4764 label Biography information for Bell Ribeiro-Addy

1178725

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the exploitation by county lines drug gangs of looked-after children placed out-of-borough.
tabling member constituency	St Helens South and Whiston
tabling member printed	Ms Marie Rimmer
uin	15073
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2020 answer text <p>County lines have a devastating impact on our communities, and we are determined to crack down on these gangs and put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable children.</p><p>The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC), established with £3.6m of Home Office funding, has been vital to strengthening our response to this issue by enhancing the intelligence picture and enabling police forces to work together to tackle this complex, cross border threat. Since it became operational in September 2018 the NCLCC has coordinated four weeks of intensive law enforcement action resulting in over 2,500 arrests and over 3,000 individuals engaged for safeguarding.</p><p>The Home Office has also announced £25m of targeted investment across 2019/20 and 2020/21 to uplift the law enforcement response to county lines and increase the support available to children, young people and families that are affected.</p><p>In addition, the Government provides a range of support for county lines victims including: funding Young People’s Advocates in Birmingham, Manchester and London to provide help and support for young people exploited through county lines, and funding through the £13m Trusted Relationships fund to help foster relationships between frontline professionals and young people at risk of exploitation including county lines.</p><p>The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement and Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is sufficient provision for their looked after children.</p><p>Lack of sufficient placements to meet young people’s needs can lead to children being placed out of area. The Government is helping to improve commissioning of placements, including providing funding through the Department for Education’s £200 million children’s social care Innovation Programme.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 25/02/2020 17:50:14 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4457 label Biography information for Ms Marie Rimmer

1175714

registered interest
date	03/02/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Organised Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for (a) Justice, (b) Education and (c) Housing, Communities and Local Government on using the findings of (i) serious case reviews following the homicides of young people, (ii) child safeguarding practice reviews, (iii) independent investigation reports and (iv) safeguarding adult reviews to help prevent violence linked to county lines child criminal exploitation.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Ms Lyn Brown
uin	11519
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/07/2020 answer text <p>We are determined to disrupt county lines gangs and put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable children and young people. Learning the lessons from safeguarding reviews is vital in order to prevent future tragedies and ensure that all parts of the safeguarding system are playing their part to support those exploited by county lines drug dealing.</p><p>On 4 March 2020 the Independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published the findings of its first national review looking at adolescents in need of state protection from criminal exploitation. The Home Office is working closely with the Departments for Education and Justice and others to carefully consider the Panel’s recommendations, as well as those from other safeguarding reviews relating to child criminal exploitation.</p><p>The Home Office Minister for Safeguarding meets regularly with the Minister for Children and Families to discuss issues related to vulnerable children, including those victims of child criminal exploitation and officials are working closely across government to put in place a range of support for vulnerable children and young people to ensure that they are protected and able to access the support they need.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 29/07/2020 12:07:18 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown