Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the interaction and relationship between the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, and what plans they have to harmonise those two regimes.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (PSA) was designed to complement the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), by introducing civil sanctions and offences for those who produce, possess with intent to supply, supply, offer to supply and import or export new psychoactive substances which are not controlled under the MDA or which are not otherwise exempt. One of the important safeguards which the PSA provides is ensuring there are no gaps in law enforcement powers to tackle newly emerging harmful drugs. This is in the context that prior to 2016 criminal gangs were designing new psychoactive drugs with different chemical structures in order to evade MDA controls. Substances can be moved into the MDA following advice on their harms from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and subject to the decisions of Ministers.
A review of the PSA published in 2018 found that there is no evidence that the PSA has adversely affected the process or timeliness with which substances can be controlled under the MDA, with substances continuing to be controlled after the Act was introduced. Review of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (publishing.service.gov.uk). The government keeps all legislation under review, but has no plans to change either legislative regime substantially.
The report referred to as ‘Interaction and relationship between the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016’ was shared with the Home Office in confidence by the ACMD and is not a public document. One recommendation has been made public, concerning a review of the Working Protocol between the ACMD and the Home Office, which the government has agreed to undertake.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what harm reduction policies they are implementing in relation to illicit drug use.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Drug Strategy sets out our commitment that the government and our public services will continue to work together and share responsibility for creating a safer, healthier and more productive society. It is backed by increased funding across the system, including nearly £900 million of additional investment over 2022-2025, of which the largest amount, £780 million, is dedicated additional funding for the treatment and recovery system.
Delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system is one of the three key strategic priorities in the Drug Strategy.
As part of this priority, the Government continues to support a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce the health-related harms of drug misuse, such as maintaining the availability of needle and syringe programmes to prevent blood borne infections, widening the availability of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths and the rollout of the opioid treatment, depot buprenorphine.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase access to (1) drug testing, and (2) overdose prevention centres, to reduce drug related deaths.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Those wishing to offer drug testing or checking services can do so provided that any possession and supply of controlled drugs is licensed by the Home Office or, exceptionally, relevant exemptions under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 apply.
Ministers are clear that any type of drug checking service must not condone drug use and should only be delivered where licensed and operated responsibly in line with Government policy to ensure that they discourage drug use and signpost potential users to treatment and support. We welcome potential applicants who wish to apply for a licence and who share these principles.
The UK Government does not support drug consumption rooms, sometimes referred to as overdose prevention centres. We have been clear that we have concerns about the potential for these facilities to appear to condone drug use and to encourage the continued illicit supply of drugs and they will not be introduced in England and Wales.
I am aware of the Lord Advocate’s statement that in her view it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users for simple drug possession offences in relation to a pilot drug consumption room in Glasgow. While our concerns remain, the UK Government will not interfere with, or seek to impede, the lawfully exercised prosecutorial independence of the Lord Advocate.
Increased drug testing in custody is a further way in which testing is being supported. The Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) expansion project is a key deliverable in the 10-year Drug Strategy to help tackle drug-related offending. The primary aim of this project is expansion, both in the number of police forces delivering DToA and the overall increase in volume of tests carried out.
Year 1 of the DToA project (FY22-23) saw an increase in the number of police forces accepting Home Office funding to set-up or expand DToA operations, and an increase in the number of forces reporting data to the Home Office, with recent programme data published on GOV.UK. Year 2 of the programme is underway, and the Home Office has appointed an external evaluator to consider the impacts of the project.
The legislative expansion of DToA is also progressing well, following the publication of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan in March 2023. In August, police were given the power to test for all Class A drugs. Further legislation will enable specified Class B and C drugs to be tested for and will extend the list of ‘trigger’ offences that make drug testing more accessible to officers to deploy. These changes will also enable the police to refer more individuals to treatment and support services.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Metropolitan Police Service adopted the Selection Entrance Assessment for Recruiting Candidates Holistically (SEARCH) vetting process; if not, why not; and if so, (1) when the application started, and (2) whether it is still in use; and if it is not still in use, when its use ceased.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, in the case of the Metropolitan Police the Mayor of London, and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing.
The SEARCH assessment centre was introduced as the national assessment centre for police officer candidates in 2002. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) used SEARCH as its assessment until April 2018 when a new assessment centre pilot was introduced in the MPS called Day One.
In May 2020 the College of Policing introduced the Online Assessment Process (OAP) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was adopted by all forces who now use the OAP for assessing candidates.
Vetting of police officer candidates is a separate post assessment stage carried out by forces as part of mandatory pre-employment checks.
Police forces carry out their vetting in line with the College of Policing’s statutory code of practice on vetting and vetting authorised professional practice (APP) guidance which were introduced in 2017. The Home Secretary has recently asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice on vetting to make the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the list of 1,192 affiliated and organisational groups mentioned in Special Demonstration Squad documentation, which was collated by the Metropolitan Police Service Inquiry and Review Support Command and sent to the Undercover Policing Inquiry on 10 August 2017, is released by November 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Inquiry is independent of the Home Office, and its independence is crucial to its effectiveness. It would not, therefore, be appropriate for the Government to comment on or intervene in the Inquiry’s decision-making.
The Inquiry is responsible for deciding how best to structure its investigations to deliver its terms of reference and disclosure is a matter for the Inquiry. It is also a matter for the Metropolitan Police Service to make decisions independently of the Home Office on the management and disclosure of its records.
More information on the Inquiry’s evidence and disclosure process can be found on the Inquiry’s website.