Event Summary

“The harrowing exploitation of children and young people by county lines drugs gangs, including the increasing trend to recruit females, is a significant and increasing concern…” *

County Lines continues to be a high-profile and UK-wide issue, with far-reaching and devastating impacts. County Lines drug smuggling is being tackled on multiple fronts: prevention and early identification; intervention and safeguarding victims; the disruption of lines and transport routes; and via major initiatives, like the Met’s recent Orochi Operation.

However, County Lines is a moving feast, as perpetrators adapt to increased enforcement measures. Concerns are increasing around the use of social media by county lines gangs, the high numbers of hard-to-reach children who absent from education and the growth in poverty in the UK.

Westminster Insight’s established and successful bi-annual County Lines Conference supports this evolving picture, bringing to you the most innovative initiatives, successful collaborations, and impactful multi-agency partnerships to help tackle County Lines. We will spotlight how county lines gangs work and who they prey upon. Learn about effective police and intelligence-led solutions, and how to tackle the changing operating models used by organised crime groups.

Learn from lived experience about what leads someone into a county lines gang. How do they exit that world? How is their future going to be a successful one?

Supporting women and girls is also becoming more critical: the number of women and girls involved is underestimated and growing. You will hear specific advice for how you can intervene early, and support females caught up in county lines.

*Cllr Antoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, July 2021

Key Points

  • Effective co-ordination of a multi-agency approach: how the Police, Local Government, Education, Housing, Health, and the voluntary sector can work together to disrupt county lines
  • Reviewing current perpetrator models and the changing patterns of county line activity
  • Safeguarding in education and children missing education: from primary schools to universities
  • Transitional safeguarding: rethinking the approach to safeguarding adolescents
  • Disrupting county line networks through intelligence-led policing, inter-agency collaboration and targeting transport routes
  • Spotlight on women and girls in county lines, and modern slavery
  • Safeguarding, rehabilitating and supporting victims and ensuring their futures
  • Improving the identification of cuckooed tenancies and protecting vulnerable tenants
  • Social media exploitation and the impact of the pandemic

Benefits of attending

  • A rewarding and useful learning experience
  • A practical and varied mix of useful sessions
  • Engaging and informative speakers
  • Multi-agency sessions, expert panels, innovative case studies, and spotlights on lived experience
  • Content based on in-depth research with key stakeholders, practitioners, and past delegates
  • By popular demand, this event will be face-to-face, allowing you to network and discuss common issues with colleagues.

Venue Details and Access

In-person – The conference will take place in Zone 1, Central London. The venue will be announced shortly. Attend this half-day event in person to network, build relationships and learn from your peers.

Online – The conference will be recorded and live streamed via a custom digital platform. The content will be available on demand for 14 days.