Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of cannabis factories across the UK.

The Government works closely with the police to support the policing of illegal
cannabis cultivation. The police response to tackle commercial cannabis
cultivation includes proactive operations to identify and close down these
farms and disrupt the organised crime groups behind them. The police also work
to improve their knowledge and understanding of the trade through activity-led
intelligence gathering.

Cannabis farms are often established by organised crime groups in residential
properties, bringing criminality into communities. The Government is therefore
also working with other partners with an interest in this area, such as energy
companies and the property sector, to promote co-operation and the sharing of
best practice in tackling cannabis farms.

We have also worked in partnership with Crimestoppers on a ‘scratch and sniff'
cannabis card campaign, which I launched on 26 June and which will run for
three months. This involves distributing ‘scratch and sniff' cards to the public to
inform them about the signs to spot and the specific smell of cannabis when it
is growing. Hot spot areas, as informed by police intelligence, have been
targeted by police forces throughout the UK. A similar campaign last year led
to information passed to Crimestoppers on cannabis cultivation increasing 28
% in the month following the launch, which led to the dismantlement of
cannabis farms and a number of arrests across the country.