Thousands of young people are being exploited by gangs and criminals. The final report of Anne Longfield’s year-long Commission on Young Lives has set out how we can address this, but it requires a change of priorities from ministers
Recently, I visited a community project on a housing estate where residents told me they were being terrorised by a gang who were delivering a “county line” to an area about 80 miles away.
The boys were all around 14-years-old, wore balaclavas and were dishing out acts of violence and torching vehicles. All had been excluded from school and all had been sent to a local pupil referral unit with a very poor reputation, which none of them seemed to attend.
Families were living in fear, and everyone seemed to be just waiting for tragedy to occur.
