(Croydon Central) (Lab):
What recent assessment she has made of the effect of county lines
exploitation on (a) women and (b) girls.
The Minister for Women (): County lines exploitation has a devasting impact on
our communities, and we of course recognise the risks to girls
and young women who are exploited by these ruthless
gangs—including, often, for sexual exploitation. The
National Crime Agency threat assessment
published last year sets out the scale of the issue and the level
of exploitation faced by women and girls, which is why we are
investing £25 million to disrupt county lines gangs and put an
end to this exploitation.
: We think that at least
one in 10 people involved in county lines are girls, and the
number is probably a lot higher than that. Her Majesty’s
inspectorate of constabulary has just published a report on how
the police and the NCA are dealing with county lines, and it has
a number of really excellent recommendations, many of them about
different agencies working together. One recommendation is that
by the end of the year there should be a legal definition of
child criminal exploitation, so that everybody understands what
it is and what they should do about it. Does the Minister agree
and will she be working to that goal?
: As the chair of the all-party group on knife crime,
the hon. Lady will know that the Government are working on a
public health approach to tackling serious violence. We are very
much looking at the workings of agencies, including the police.
The hon. Lady will welcome the fact that the National County
Lines Coordination Centre has conducted more than 2,500 arrests
and safeguarded more than 3,000 people. Of course, that work
continues. One of the many ways in which we support those who are
exploited is to fund young people’s advocates in London,
Manchester and the west midlands to work directly with
gang-affected women and girls, particularly if they have been
victims or are at risk of sexual violence.
