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<p><del class="ministerial">In May 2021, the National County Lines Coordination Centre
published the latest County Lines strategic assessment. The assessment found that
county lines continue to be at the forefront of drug supply nationally and have evolved
in response to environmental changes.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The county
lines business model remains heavily weighted towards the supply of heroin and crack
cocaine. NCLCC’s latest assessment indicates that there has been a reduction in the
total number of potentially active deal lines, with numbers reported to have fallen
from between 800-1,100 in 2019/20 to 600 in 2020/21.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We
continue to work with partners to address the underlying drivers of exploitation and
ensure support and protection is in place for children exploited through county lines
criminality. Wehave funded specialist support for victims of county lines exploitation
to deliver one-to-one support to under 25s and their families in the three largest
county lines exporting force areas</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">This Government
is also delivering a range of initiatives to tackle youth violence including investing
over £105.5 million from 2019 to 2022, (VRUs). The Home Office also works closely
with the Department for Education to tackle youth violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We
will continue to use data on rates of drug use to monitor trends and inform the Government’s
approach to addressing drugs and drug harms’.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The
Government acknowledges the strength of feeling on juvenile CHIS, however, we must
recognise that some juveniles are involved in serious crimes, as perpetrators and
victims. In some circumstances a young person may have unique access to information
or intelligence that could play a vital part in preventing or detecting serious offences.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">Young people are only authorised as CHIS in rare circumstances.
Between January 2015 and December 2018, there were only 17 instances where law enforcement
bodies deployed those under 18 years old as CHIS, and their participation in criminal
conduct is rarer still.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The Covert Human Intelligence
Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 includes a commitment on the face of the legislation
that young people will only be authorised to undertake criminal conduct in exceptional
circumstances.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In May 2021, the National County
Lines Coordination Centre published the latest County Lines strategic assessment.
The assessment found that county lines continue to be at the forefront of drug supply
nationally and have evolved in response to environmental changes. </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">The county lines business model remains heavily weighted towards
the supply of heroin and crack cocaine. NCLCC’s latest assessment indicates that there
has been a reduction in the total number of potentially active deal lines, with numbers
reported to have fallen from between 800-1,100 in 2019/20 to 600 in 2020/21. </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">We continue to work with partners to address the underlying drivers
of exploitation and ensure support and protection is in place for children exploited
through county lines criminality. We have funded specialist support for victims of
county lines exploitation to deliver one-to-one support to under 25s and their families
in the three largest county lines exporting force areas</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This
Government is also delivering a range of initiatives to tackle youth violence including
investing over £105.5 million in Violence Reduction Units from 2019 to 2022. The Home
Office works closely with the Department for Education to tackle youth violence.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">We will continue to use data on rates of drug use to monitor trends
and inform the Government’s approach to addressing drugs and drug harms.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">The Government acknowledges the strength of feeling on juvenile
CHIS, however, we must recognise that some juveniles are involved in serious crimes,
as perpetrators and victims. In some circumstances a young person may have unique
access to information or intelligence that could play a vital part in preventing or
detecting serious offences. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Young people are
only authorised as CHIS in rare circumstances. Between January 2015 and December 2018,
there were only 17 instances where law enforcement bodies deployed those under 18
years old as CHIS, and their participation in criminal conduct is rarer still. </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021
includes a commitment on the face of the legislation that young people will only be
authorised to undertake criminal conduct in exceptional circumstances. </ins></p>
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