A national policy on county lines drugs operations should be drawn up by the government urges a motion to be debated by councillors in Swindon this week.

Councillor Barbara Parry, who represents Covingham & Dorcan and is chairman of the children's health and care scrutiny committee has put forward a motion to the full council meeting on Thursday.

It says: "County lines drug dealing is one of the greatest threats of our time" and add that the Children's Commissioner estimates there are 46,000 children being exploited in such a way.

The motion calls on the Conservative administration to write to ministers requesting a national strategy to allow local authorities to work together to track perpetrators and victims across authority boundaries and to help develop skills and understanding on how to help children caught up.

The council's cabinet member for children, Coun Mary Martin, will be asked to write to all Swindon schools asking them to include County Lines training for all staff as part of safeguarding training."