Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of creating a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation, in terms of improving (a) sentencing, (b) probation management in the community, (c) rehabilitation in custody and (d) resettlement and probation support after release from custody.

This Government is determined to tackle Child Criminal Exploitation in all its forms. Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) is already defined in statutory guidance for frontline practitioners working with children. Specifically, this includes the Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance.

The definition used in these pieces of statutory guidance is consistent with the definition of CCE in the Serious Violence Strategy, the Home Office County Lines Guidance, the Ministry of Justice County Lines Exploitation Practice Guidance for YOTs and frontline practitioners and the Home Office Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit.

More widely, the Home Office is working across Government to ensure police and partners make full use of the powers and tools available to tackle county lines and associated child criminal exploitation and to ensure these ruthless criminals face the full force of the law.