Drug offences of juveniles "County Lines" from 2016 to 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.022450

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please provide the following information, per calendar year, for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

1. How many drug supply arrests of juveniles aged 16 or under have been recorded that are deemed to be "County Lines" offences? Could these figures be broken down by year, please?

2. If your Force does not distinguish drug supply offences as "County Lines" or not then please supply the information in question 1 as generic drug supply with an offender aged 16 or under.

3. How many County lines arrests of juveniles under the age of 16 have been recorded for class A/B/C drugs? If possible, please supply numbers for heroin, cocaine, other (class A); Cannabis, Ketamine, Amphetamine (class B); Steroids, other (class C). Could these figures also be broken down by year, please?

4. If your Force does not distinguish drug supply offences as "County Lines" or not then how many drug supply arrests of juveniles under the age of 16 have been recorded for class A/B/C drugs? If possible, please supply numbers for heroin, cocaine, other (class A); Cannabis, Ketamine, Amphetamine (class B); Steroids, other (class C). Could these figures be broken down by year, please?

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

I have today decided to disclose the information held in the attached Excel Spreadsheet. However, please note that the information for Q.1 & 3 is not held as there is no field or flag on the NSPIS system to record County Lines.

Please find attached Excel Spreadsheet with the data requested for Q.2 & 4 only.

Please read the Notes Page in conjunction with the data in the attached report to ensure that it is interpreted correctly.