Drug gangs to face ‘zero tolerance’ for exploiting children
GANGS using child foot soldiers to flood the streets with heroin and crack cocaine will be met with ‘zero tolerance’, the Education Secretary said yesterday.
Damian Hinds attacked the ‘vile’ criminals preying on youngsters as he promised the vulnerable would be given protection.
He spoke out as the Department for Education unveiled a £2million ‘county lines’ unit to support councils in protecting those most at risk.
The hub will provide funding and resources to local authorities to help children trapped in drug gangs, as well as those at risk of sexual exploitation.
Due to open next year, the unit will run until 2022. It will provide advice and deliver additional staff with experience and knowledge of county lines opera- tions. There will be an online forum for professionals.
Mr Hind’s pledge came after a Mail investigation lifted the lid on the scale of the county lines drug menace.
It is named after the mobile phone lines used to sell and distribute drugs in provincial towns and cities.
The intervention comes a day after a leading charity accused local authorities of turning a ‘corporate blind eye’ to those children needing help.
St Giles Trust said cash- strapped children’s services were regularly turning away drug couriers as young as 12, saying they do not meet the threshold for assistance.
Mr Hinds said: ‘No child should grow up fearing being exploited, and no parent should have to worry that their child, or any child, will be targeted by these criminal gangs. Nothing is more important than ensuring each and every child can experience a childhood free from fear and exploitation which is why their safety and wellbeing is our top priority.
‘You don’t have to be a parent to find reports of children being used to traffic drugs, absolutely vile and abhorrent.
‘When it comes to the most vulnerable children, for whom we are the corporate parents, we have a zero tolerance approach. We must expect the same as we would want for our own children.
‘Not just that they are safe, but that they are able to thrive. In terms of what we’re doing to stamp out this behaviour, we have launched a new serious violence strategy.
‘This will make sure that the police, community groups, education, health and local authorities have to work together to safeguard children from being preyed on and sucked into criminal activity in the first place, as well as confronting county lines gangs.’
The Home Office has pledged a £13million ‘Trusted Relationships Fund’ to 11 councils to help professionals, including police, nurses and youth workers, to develop caring relationships with vulnerable children.
Mr Hinds added: ‘We’re setting up a new national response unit – backed by £2million – that will work with councils where there is a particular issue.
‘The team will provide expert advice and practical support to those councils to help them protect vulnerable children. We’re providing 11 councils with £ 13million to pilot a new approach where young people at risk of exploitation can be linked up with a dependable adult that they can contact if they need support.’
On Monday the Daily Mail highlighted the acute problem of drugs gangs in a single county.
Norfolk Police made more than 700 arrests, including 126 children, in just 21 months.
SCANDAL OF THE ‘CHILD SLAVE’ DRUG RUNNERS From Monday’s Mail