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<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>
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