To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent children from being exploited by drug gangs in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent children from being exploited by drug gangs in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the UK.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Every child caught with a knife to get tailored support, published on 11 February 2026, whether children identified as victims of county lines drug distribution exploitation will receive specialist support within mandatory targeted plans.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Every child caught with a knife to get tailored support, published on 11 February 2026, whether children identified as victims of county lines drug distribution exploitation will receive specialist support within mandatory targeted plans.

Letter dated 17/12/2025 from Lord Hanson of Flint to Baroness Chakrabarti regarding an issue raised in the Crime and Policing Bill committee stage debate (fourth day): child criminal exploitation. 2p.

Letter dated 17/12/2025 from Lord Hanson of Flint to Baroness Chakrabarti regarding an issue raised in the Crime and Policing Bill committee stage debate (fourth day): child criminal exploitation. 2p.

Lords committee stage fourth day. Clause 42, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 43 to 47 agreed to. Clause 48, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 49 and 50 agreed to. Clause 51, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 52 and 53 agreed to. Clause 54, as amended, agreed to. Clause 55 agreed to. New clause agreed to. (Part 1 of 2).

Lords committee stage fourth day. Clause 42, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 43 to 47 agreed to. Clause 48, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 49 and 50 agreed to. Clause 51, as amended, agreed to. Clauses 52 and 53 agreed to. Clause 54, as amended, agreed to. Clause 55 agreed...

Moved by

Baroness Brown of Silvertown

232B: After Clause 41, insert the following new Clause—

“Definition of the criminal exploitation of children

(1) The criminal exploitation of children is a form of child abuse in which a child under the age of 18 is used for purposes that constitute, enable or facilitate an offence...

Moved by

Baroness Brown of Silvertown

232B: After Clause 41, insert the following new Clause—

“Definition of the criminal exploitation of children

(1) The criminal exploitation of children is a form of child abuse in which a child under the age of 18 is used for purposes that constitute, enable or facilitate an offence...

My Lords, this is the first amendment I have moved in your Lordships’ House and I hope I do it some justice because, in just one year, there were nine murders of young people associated with the pernicious drug trade colloquially known as county lines. As the MP for the...

My Lords, this is the first amendment I have moved in your Lordships’ House and I hope I do it some justice because, in just one year, there were nine murders of young people associated with the pernicious drug trade colloquially known as county lines. As the MP for the...

My Lords, I declare several interests. I am a co-chair of the All-Party Group on Modern Slavery and vice-chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Brown. She has done a brilliant first amendment and I am delighted to support her. I played a very small...

My Lords, I declare several interests. I am a co-chair of the All-Party Group on Modern Slavery and vice-chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Brown. She has done a brilliant first amendment and I am delighted to support her. I played a very small...

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Brown of Silvertown, but she may not need much support, having received the much-coveted gold star from the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, who, I am very proud to say, supports a later amendment of mine on raising the age of...

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Brown of Silvertown, but she may not need much support, having received the much-coveted gold star from the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, who, I am very proud to say, supports a later amendment of mine on raising the age of...

My Lords, first, I absolutely congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, on her excellently motivated amendment. It is very thought provoking. In particular, this sentence caught my attention:

“The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual”.

That is one of the most difficult challenges. For...

My Lords, first, I absolutely congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, on her excellently motivated amendment. It is very thought provoking. In particular, this sentence caught my attention:

“The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual”.

That is one of the most difficult challenges. For...

My Lords, I join in congratulating the noble Baroness on how she moved the amendment. It is very nice to see a Government Back-Bencher introducing an amendment and taking part; I wish we had slightly more of it.

To bring one back to Professor Jay’s review of child criminal exploitation, she...

My Lords, I join in congratulating the noble Baroness on how she moved the amendment. It is very nice to see a Government Back-Bencher introducing an amendment and taking part; I wish we had slightly more of it.

To bring one back to Professor Jay’s review of child criminal exploitation, she...

My Lords, I fully endorse the important points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Brown. I had great pleasure in working with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, on the Modern Slavery Bill. I am totally in awe of her experience and her willingness to share that experience, which,...

My Lords, I fully endorse the important points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Brown. I had great pleasure in working with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, on the Modern Slavery Bill. I am totally in awe of her experience and her willingness to share that experience, which,...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, for introducing this large group of amendments. As noble Lords will appreciate, many of the amendments before us today concern matters of clarification or technical improvement to ensure consistency across the Bill and the amendments tabled so far.

We on...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, for introducing this large group of amendments. As noble Lords will appreciate, many of the amendments before us today concern matters of clarification or technical improvement to ensure consistency across the Bill and the amendments tabled so far.

We on...

My Lords, if the Committee will allow me, I will begin by detailing the government amendments in this group. We know that criminal gangs conducting activity such as county lines drug dealing do not stop at internal UK borders, and children are criminally exploited across the UK. To go to...

My Lords, if the Committee will allow me, I will begin by detailing the government amendments in this group. We know that criminal gangs conducting activity such as county lines drug dealing do not stop at internal UK borders, and children are criminally exploited across the UK. To go to...

Obviously, I correctly anticipated the response that was coming, but I would be grateful if my noble friend would deal with this point about “enabling”, which is a substantive point of difference in the two definitions. Enabling is easier to prove than causing. “Causing” is closer to a child being...

Obviously, I correctly anticipated the response that was coming, but I would be grateful if my noble friend would deal with this point about “enabling”, which is a substantive point of difference in the two definitions. Enabling is easier to prove than causing. “Causing” is closer to a child being...

I appreciate my noble friend’s comments. If she will bear with me, I will come on to that point in a moment. I am doing this in

a structured order to try to address the points that are before the Committee today.

I say to my noble friend Lady Brown that,...

I appreciate my noble friend’s comments. If she will bear with me, I will come on to that point in a moment. I am doing this in

a structured order to try to address the points that are before the Committee today.

I say to my noble friend Lady Brown that,...

While statutory guidance is welcome, this particular case has similarities to other areas of the criminal law where the motivations and behaviours are complex, such as stalking and various areas of domestic abuse. In every case where regulation has been put in such a way that it becomes

statutory, unless...

While statutory guidance is welcome, this particular case has similarities to other areas of the criminal law where the motivations and behaviours are complex, such as stalking and various areas of domestic abuse. In every case where regulation has been put in such a way that it becomes

statutory, unless...

That is a valid point. I have considered with officials how we ensure enforcement of the guidance. I simply put it to the noble Earl—and we can debate this outside the Bill—that the statutory guidance is issued to chief constables of police forces under Clause 60 and they have a...

That is a valid point. I have considered with officials how we ensure enforcement of the guidance. I simply put it to the noble Earl—and we can debate this outside the Bill—that the statutory guidance is issued to chief constables of police forces under Clause 60 and they have a...

Will the Minister take on board the fact that countless inspections of police training, including by HMICFRS, have said that there has not been an independent assessment of police training since 2018, despite the fact that so many of the policing bodies themselves have asked for it? Taking the point,...

Will the Minister take on board the fact that countless inspections of police training, including by HMICFRS, have said that there has not been an independent assessment of police training since 2018, despite the fact that so many of the policing bodies themselves have asked for it? Taking the point,...

I will sound like I am repeating myself from Question Time, but, very shortly, we anticipate bringing forward a policing White Paper looking at a whole range of mechanisms to improve police performance. If the noble Baroness will allow me, I will wait for further detail on the policing White...

I will sound like I am repeating myself from Question Time, but, very shortly, we anticipate bringing forward a policing White Paper looking at a whole range of mechanisms to improve police performance. If the noble Baroness will allow me, I will wait for further detail on the policing White...

I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for his detailed response, but will he reflect on the potential distinction between “enabling” and “causing”? Will he go back to parliamentary counsel and be clear that enablers will always meet this threshold of causation? I am really concerned about that....

I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for his detailed response, but will he reflect on the potential distinction between “enabling” and “causing”? Will he go back to parliamentary counsel and be clear that enablers will always meet this threshold of causation? I am really concerned about that....