Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help prevent the exploitation of vulnerable children by county lines gangs in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset.

To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the drug gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.

Through the County Lines Programme, we will continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this vile trade. Between July and September 2024, policing activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.

While the majority of lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, county lines is a national issue. This is why, through the Home Office-funded County Lines Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. In addition, we have a dedicated surge fund which provides local forces with additional funding to tackle county lines, including Avon & Somerset Police.

As part of the Programme, the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place between 25 November to 1 December 2024, during which Avon and Somerset Police made 17 arrests, seized 5 drug lines and referred 5 vulnerable people to safeguarding services.

As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime.

We are also providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation and will deliver on our manifesto commitment to roll out further support through Prevention Partnerships to intervene earlier to ensure young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.