National County Lines Co-ordination Centre and County Lines Funding

The Home Office has announced additional spending for police forces and other law enforcement agencies to enhance the way they tackle County Lines criminality. The MPS has been allocated funding as the host force of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre and separately for work to be carried out by the MPS for London. This decision outlines the two bids and how the money will be used over the time frame from 28 October 2019 to 31 March 2020.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is requested to:

1. approve the MPS to accept up to £1.2 million Home Office grant bid funding as the host force and appointed budget holder for national activities relating to the expansion of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC). The grant funding is for expenditure during the period 28 October 2019 to 31 March 2020.

2. approve the MPS to accept up to £1.15 million Home Office grant bid funding for the MPS to tackle County Lines related threat against London. The grant funding is for expenditure during the period 28 October 2019 to 31 March 2020.

3. approve £570,000 expenditure for the purchase of additional analytical software licenses. The 12-month licenses will enable officers conducting County Lines investigations to access the Communications Data Analysis Tool. This will enable investigators to process more cases with greater accuracy and effectiveness. The full cost will be funded from the MPS £1.15 million Home Office allocation discussed in recommendation (2) above.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The funding and activity described in this paper is as a result of the funding the Home Office have allocated after the Home Secretary’s announcement of £20m to combat County Lines was launched.

1.2. The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) is funded by the Home Office and is focused around delivering an accurate analysis of the current threat posed by county lines, producing an effective operational response and developing and disseminating relevant strategy derived from best practice and SME’s for national compliance.

1.3. The expansion of the NCLCC is reliant on additional funds to enhance output and give additional support for policing and wider law enforcement given the enhanced priority of County Lines in recent time.

1.4. The MPS is the largest exporter of County Lines. Additional funds to assist the MPS to tackle County Lines related criminality is linked to the Home Secretary’s desire to “roll-up” County Lines with funding that the Home Office have allocated.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. County Lines is a business model used to deal drugs, predominately of Class A and is an industry believed to be worth in excess of £500m.

2.2. The scale of the current complex threat posed by county lines in relation to the exploitation of children and other vulnerable persons to facilitate drug dealing is extensive and affects every Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) area and police force area.

2.3. The exploitation of children and vulnerable people is a fundamental factor in how the business model works. An increase in serious violence linked to young persons and the drugs market has been noted across the country and the increase is significantly impacted by the county lines “business model”.

2.4. Since the inception of the NCLCC the understanding of the threat picture around County Lines has increased significantly. Operational activity has also increased and developed but it is a cross border, multi-threat crime methodology and so additional funds for forces and ROCU’s to have more of an impact is needed significantly.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The NCLCC costs are £1.2m for financial year 2019/2020. A break down of costs is in Annex A of the restricted part of the report.

3.2. The MPS costs are £1.15m. A breakdown of costs is in Annex B of the restricted part of the report.

3.3. The procurement of analytical software within the MPS bid of £1.15m is detailed in the restricted part of this report.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all bids for grant funding.

4.2. There are no significant legal issues arising from the proposal, bid or development of the NCLCC.

5. GDPR and Data Privacy

5.1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a 'State' body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.

5.2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects.

5.3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the projects meets its compliance requirements.

5.4. The project does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. This business case has undergone initial equality screening. Due regard has been taken to the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty under Sec 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Real consideration has been taken to assess equality impact caused by the proposed business change including effective engagement and analysing relevant equality information. As a result no negative impact has been identified to any individual and/or group safeguarded by a protected characteristic and to those who are not due to the utilisation of pre-existing staff members and the funding is for supplementary business continuity. Further reviews will be conducted, if necessary, and process monitoring completed. If as a result of the continual development of this strategic paper Equality Impact is identified, a full Equality Impact Assessment will be initiated.

7. Background/supporting papers

7.1. The supporting documents are in Part 2. Part 2 is not suitable for MOPAC publication. Disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is exempt by section 43(2).