County lines and child criminal exploitation

Early day motion 924, tabled 24 September 2020 by Grahame Morris (Labour). Signed by 23 members.

That this House is alarmed at the expansion of county lines networks, recently exacerbated by covid-19; calls for clarification of laws to ensure that all young people who are groomed, coerced and controlled into committing crime are recognised as victims of trafficking and exploitation; advocates the adoption of a new public health approach to drug prevention that works with schools, pupil referral units and providers for those outside of mainstream education; notes the need for new local safeguarding partnerships enabling multi-agency work to identify and respond to child criminal exploitation; further notes that a system is required for seamlessly sharing data across borders and agencies and disrupting grooming and criminality that has migrated from the streets to encrypted apps; and calls upon the Government to introduce a stand-alone national strategy on child criminal exploitation that includes these recommendations as a matter of urgency.

Signatures by party: Labour 9, Conservative 4, Independent 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 2, DUP 1, Green 1, Labour/Co-operative 1, Liberal Democrat 1.