Thank you to everyone who joined this week’s parliamentary panel discussion of ‘Trapping’, a new film from two-times BAFTA and GRAMMY nominated filmmaker Penny Woolcock. It was great to see a a sneak preview of the film, which stimulated thought-provoking discussion around gang violence, structural inequality, and drugs policy reform. It’s absolutely vital that we ensure young people are protected from county lines and criminal exploitation.

Children who are in state care or excluded from schools are particularly vulnerable to exploitation by criminal gangs. Gangs know that these children, who have often suffered trauma and been uprooted from stability, will be searching for a sense of belonging. Any solution to county lines has to tackle the issue of school exclusions and protect looked after children.