Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many premises and prohibition (a) notices and (b) orders have been issued since the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 came into force.

The information requested is not collected centrally.

The figures in the press release of 29 December provided an early snapshot of enforcement activity since the commencement of the Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA). They were based on voluntary data returned to the National Police Chiefs’ Council by 44 police forces in the United Kingdom covering the period 26 May to 26 November 2016.

We are undertaking a formal review of the Act and the review will report its findings by late 2018.