Growing issue of county lines to be discussed at Nottingham conference

• UK’s largest gathering of professionals tackling child sexual exploitation
• Focus on organised gangs who target vulnerable children

Experts from across the UK will gather in the East Midlands next week for NWG’s national conference, aimed at tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE).

The event is the largest of its kind in the UK and high on the agenda this year will be the issue of county lines, with some of the country’s leading experts giving talks on the issue.

County lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs from one area of the country to another.

They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store drugs and money and will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons, according to the UK Government’s official definition.

Sheila Taylor MBE, Chief Executive of NWG Network, said: “The issue of county lines has risen to prominence in the media recently due to some high-profile cases, but it is not a new one. Sadly, this is something that we have seen regularly over the years.

“The conference will be exploring what more needs to be done to tackle the issue and the way that all those involved in the care of vulnerable children and teenagers – whether that be the police, social services or health staff – can work together to address it.

“This is our sixth annual conference and we are so proud that we can, once again, provide this unique opportunity for people working in the field of CSE to come together to explore the issues they are facing, whilst sharing their learning with colleagues from across the country.”

The conference is expected to be attended by more than 150 staff members from police forces, social services, education and the health service, as well as community groups that work to tackle CSE.

Keynote speakers will include Evan Jones from the St Giles Trust, a charity which works to identify and campaign on the issue of county lines, and a representative from SPACE (Stop and Prevent Adolescent Criminal Exploitation), a not-for-profit organisation that was launched last year in response to the prevalence of county lines behaviour.

Other speakers will include Dr Alison Gardner from the University of Nottingham’s ‘Rights Lab’, who has been named as one of the UK’s Top 100 Modern Slavery influencers, and Dr Ella Cockbain of University College London, who specialises in research into human trafficking and CSE.

The conference will run next Tuesday and Wednesday (26/27^th) at East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.