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1688135

registered interest
date	07/02/2024
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, whether any county lines reported as closed in 2023 have re-opened as of 7 February 2024.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	13518
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2024 answer text <p>This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why we are investing up to £145m over three years in our County Lines Programme to tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model yet seen.</p><p>Since the Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,100 line closures, 15,600 arrests and 8,000 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,100 line closures by the Programme taskforces since April 2022, meeting the HMG Drugs Strategy commitment of closing over 2,000 by April 2025 in half the time.</p><p>The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre determines a line to be closed where there is evidence that the controlling gang is no longer capable of distributing drugs using that telephone number, with check backs to ensure the telephone number remains out of use.</p><p>Delivery of the County Lines Programme is overseen by the County Lines Task and Finish Group, which meets regularly to drive forward progress, monitor the impact of the funding, and identify challenges. The Task and Finish Group was established by the Home Office in October 2019 and has met 47 times to date.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 13519 question first answered 22/02/2024 17:44:16 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

1686853

registered interest
date	01/02/2024
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 his Department is taking to ensure that people who are arrested for suspected drug cultivation are assessed for signs that they may have been (a) coerced and (b) exploited by others.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	12696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2024 answer text <p>Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.</p><p>The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.</p><p>Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.</p><p>Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.</p><p>Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.</p><p>Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 12695 12697 12698 question first answered 08/02/2024 17:02:49 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1686854

registered interest
date	01/02/2024
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 guidance his Department issues to (a) police and (b) immigration authorities on working together to tackle the intersection of (i) drug cultivation and (ii) immigration offences.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	12697
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2024 answer text <p>Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities.</p><p>The Government's ten-year Drugs Strategy demonstrates our commitment to cut off the supply of drugs, reduce their recreational use and make the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups to operate in. Through our end-to-end plan to tackle drug supply, we are tackling the supply of drugs at every level from production overseas to cultivation in the UK. Our approach recognises that the organised criminals behind drug cultivation are often involved in a range of wider offences including firearms, money laundering, slavery and human trafficking.</p><p>Our immigration enforcement officers routinely work alongside police where there is evidence of immigration offences, to support prosecutions and to protect vulnerable persons who may face exploitation from criminal enterprises. Additionally, police work locally with a range of other agencies to mitigate the wider societal harms caused by the illicit drug trade.</p><p>Working with the National Crime Agency, the Regional Organised Crime Unit network and a range of agency partners, police in England and Wales coordinated Operation Mille - the most significant operation of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups by dismantling large-scale cannabis farms – a key source of illicit income for organised crime gangs. Throughout June of 2023, police executed over 1,000 search warrants, arresting hundreds of individuals and seized 20 firearms, over £635,000 in cash and over 180,000 cannabis plants worth around £130 million. Of those arrested, more than 450 were later charged with a range of offences. The Home Office provided police with £1.5m funding in 2023/24 to support Operation Mille.</p><p>Through the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the government introduced a statutory defence against prosecution for victims of modern slavery who, for adults, were compelled to carry out criminal offences as a result of their exploitation and, for children, committed offences as a direct result of being a victim. The section 45 defence was designed to provide further encouragement to victims of slavery to come forward and give evidence without fear of being convicted for offences connected to their slavery or trafficking situation which can include drug cultivation.</p><p>Following the European Court of Human’s Rights judgment in the case of VCL and AN in July 2021, the positive obligation on the police to identify and investigate whether a suspect may be a potential victim of slavery or trafficking from the outset of an investigation was further strengthened through national guidance and training.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 12695 12696 12698 question first answered 08/02/2024 17:02:49 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1684525

registered interest
date	23/01/2024
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 the (a) police and (b) National Crime Agency have taken to tackle county lines operations in (i) Hampshire and (ii) the UK.
tabling member constituency	North East Hampshire
tabling member printed	Mr Ranil Jayawardena
uin	11151
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2024 answer text <p>This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why, through the 10-year Drug Strategy, we are bolstering our flagship County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over three years to tackle this violent and exploitative distribution model.</p><p>County lines is a national issue which affects all forces which is why, through the Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Hampshire Constabulary, with additional funding to tackle county lines.</p><p>Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,100 line closures, over 15,600 arrests and over 8,000 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,100 line closures by the Programme taskforces since April 2022, meeting the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 by April 2025 in half the time.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 01/02/2024 10:14:30 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4498 label Biography information for Mr Ranil Jayawardena

1663828

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
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 estimate she has made of when the targeted stakeholder engagement exercise on the proposed offence of cuckooing will conclude.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham North
tabling member printed	Alex Norris
uin	201681
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2023 answer text <p>The exploitation and degradation that is associated with the pernicious practice of cuckooing is wholly unacceptable and this Government is determined to tackle it.</p><p>Cuckooing is most commonly associated with the county lines drug distribution model. That’s why, as part of our ambitious 10-year Drugs Strategy, we are investing up to £145m over three years to tackle drugs supply and county lines activity, building on our successful County Lines Programme, launched in November 2019.</p><p>In March 2023, as part of the Government’s Anti-Social Behaviour action plan, we announced that we would be engaging with stakeholders on the scope of a potential new criminal offence.</p><p>The targeted stakeholder engagement exercise has revealed there are a range of powers and tools available to disrupt cuckooing activity and Home Office officials continue to work closely with police and wider partners to both raise awareness of cuckooing and share effective practice to tackle this abhorrent practice.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 19/10/2023 09:02:54 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4641 label Biography information for Alex Norris

1656545

registered interest
date	01/09/2023
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 county lines gangs operating in (a) Southport and (b) other coastal communities.
tabling member constituency	Southport
tabling member printed	Damien Moore
uin	196365
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2023 answer text <p>This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why, through the 10-year Drug Strategy, we are bolstering our flagship County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over three years to tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model yet seen.</p><p>Through the Programme, we support a concentrated law enforcement response in the largest exporter areas. This includes funding Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa to tackle county lines originating in Merseyside.</p><p>County lines is a national issue which affects all forces which is why we also fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces, including those in coastal areas. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund to help other local police forces tackle the scourge of county lines.</p><p>Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 4,300 line closures, over 14,200 arrests and over 6,300 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 1,300 line closures by the Programme taskforces since April 2022, against the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 by April 2025.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 11/09/2023 11:46:59 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4669 label Biography information for Damien Moore

1645052

registered interest
date	15/06/2023
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, with reference to paragraph 59.g of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, updated on 17 May, what discussions she has had with stakeholders on the introduction of the new offence of cuckooing .
tabling member constituency	Halifax
tabling member printed	Holly Lynch
uin	189804
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Government fully recognises the serious impact that persistent Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) can have on both individuals and the wider community. The ASB Action Plan, published on 27 March, commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: 1) stronger punishment, 2) making communities safer, 3) building local pride, 4) prevention and early intervention, 5) improving data, reporting and accountability for action.</p><p>As part of the plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are committed to tackling the exploitation and degrading behaviour that is associated with cuckooing. The targeted stakeholder engagement exercise commenced in the Spring of 2023 and is ongoing. We are engaging on the potential merits and scope of a new offence with a variety of key stakeholders such as the police, CJS partners, local authorities, other Government departments, specialists in the field and the Devolved Governments.</p><p>There is no centrally held data on the number of cuckooed properties. The National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, in which all police forces take part. The most recent week of intensification, which took place between 27th February to 5th March 2023, saw 887 cuckooed properties visited.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 189805 189806 question first answered 23/06/2023 09:16:33 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4472 label Biography information for Holly Lynch

1645053

registered interest
date	15/06/2023
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 (a) research she has commissioned and (b) information her Department holds on the (i) prevalence and (ii) impact of cuckooing in vulnerable communities.
tabling member constituency	Halifax
tabling member printed	Holly Lynch
uin	189805
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Government fully recognises the serious impact that persistent Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) can have on both individuals and the wider community. The ASB Action Plan, published on 27 March, commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: 1) stronger punishment, 2) making communities safer, 3) building local pride, 4) prevention and early intervention, 5) improving data, reporting and accountability for action.</p><p>As part of the plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are committed to tackling the exploitation and degrading behaviour that is associated with cuckooing. The targeted stakeholder engagement exercise commenced in the Spring of 2023 and is ongoing. We are engaging on the potential merits and scope of a new offence with a variety of key stakeholders such as the police, CJS partners, local authorities, other Government departments, specialists in the field and the Devolved Governments.</p><p>There is no centrally held data on the number of cuckooed properties. The National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, in which all police forces take part. The most recent week of intensification, which took place between 27th February to 5th March 2023, saw 887 cuckooed properties visited.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 189804 189806 question first answered 23/06/2023 09:16:33 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4472 label Biography information for Holly Lynch

1645054

registered interest
date	15/06/2023
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, with reference to her Department's Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, which (a) organisations and (b) other stakeholders her Department plans to consult on the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals for a new cuckooing offence.
tabling member constituency	Halifax
tabling member printed	Holly Lynch
uin	189806
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Government fully recognises the serious impact that persistent Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) can have on both individuals and the wider community. The ASB Action Plan, published on 27 March, commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: 1) stronger punishment, 2) making communities safer, 3) building local pride, 4) prevention and early intervention, 5) improving data, reporting and accountability for action.</p><p>As part of the plan, which is backed by £160m of funding, we are committed to tackling the exploitation and degrading behaviour that is associated with cuckooing. The targeted stakeholder engagement exercise commenced in the Spring of 2023 and is ongoing. We are engaging on the potential merits and scope of a new offence with a variety of key stakeholders such as the police, CJS partners, local authorities, other Government departments, specialists in the field and the Devolved Governments.</p><p>There is no centrally held data on the number of cuckooed properties. The National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, in which all police forces take part. The most recent week of intensification, which took place between 27th February to 5th March 2023, saw 887 cuckooed properties visited.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 189804 189805 question first answered 23/06/2023 09:16:33 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4472 label Biography information for Holly Lynch

1603512

registered interest
date	13/03/2023
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 assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of police operations in tackling county lines.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	163802
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2023 answer text <p>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. This is why, through the 10-year Drug Strategy, we are bolstering our County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over three years to tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model yet seen. By 2025, we expect this to result in over 2,000 more county lines closed, through a sustained attack on the distribution model.</p><p>We know our County Lines Programme is delivering. Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 3,500 lines closed, 10,000 arrests, and 5,600 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 1,000 line closures since April 2022 against the Drugs Strategy commitment. The latest National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) assessment of County Lines also shows a reduction in the total number of potentially active lines per month, with numbers reported to have fallen from between 800-1,100 in 2019/20 to 600 in 2020/21.</p><p>As part of our County Lines Programme, the NCLCC also regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place 27 February - 5 March and resulted in 276 lines closed (68% increase on the last Intensification Week), as well as 1,658 arrests and over 30kg worth of Class A drugs, £2m in cash and 404 weapons seized.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 20/03/2023 15:39:45 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight