Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that police forces have the necessary resources to tackle dealers of substances banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

We have worked closely with the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) to ensure that the police have the necessary resources to tackle dealers of substances banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

We held joint operational workshops with the NPCC for enforcement partners across the UK and the NPCC has produced guidance for officers, in consultation with the Home Office, to support enforcement of the Act’s offences. The Local Government Association has developed guidance to assist action by local authorities.

In addition, we have put in place a comprehensive testing programme to fulfil the evidential requirements of the Act. For the first year of implementation, test results will be held by the Home Office’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology who will maintain a central reference bank of data. This data will be made available to forensic providers, law enforcement agencies and expert witnesses at no cost.