Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to increase awareness of new psychoactive substances and their dangers in the last five years; and what the cost of such work has been.

To increase awareness of the risks of new psychoactive substances (NPS), the Government has recently introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill, which will bring in a blanket ban of NPS by prohibiting and disrupting production, distribution, sale and supply in the UK. The Bill will give police and other law enforcement agencies greater powers to tackle the trade in NPS, targeting suppliers who profit from their sale with complete disregard for the potential risks and consequences. The Home Office ran two advertising campaigns in 2013 and 2014 targeted at young people, with the objective to raise awareness of the dangers of NPS and signpost the FRANK website for further information and advice. In March 2015, we published a resource pack, written in partnership with front line practitioners, to enable those working with young people to have conversations with NPS users and challenge their drug use by raising awareness of the risks and consequences. Total spend on this NPS communications activity in 2013 to 2015 was £180,556. From 2010 to 2013, the Home Office ran a national campaign raising awareness of FRANK, the national drug information and advice service. The FRANK website contains information about the dangers of NPS. Every year since 2009, Ministers have written to approximately 50 festival organisers highlighting NPS dangers and calling on them to adopt a ‘no-legal highs’ policy for their festivals