Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Monday 15th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

We have not introduced the scheme yet. I shall make an announcement in due course about what it will cover and how it will operate, but the aim is to concentrate on places that we believe present a significant risk of overstaying. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham), it is important for the bond—where we do introduce it—to be set at a level that is high enough to constitute a disincentive, but is not disproportionate.

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

9. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the use of legal highs.

[The Minister of State, Home Department (Mr Jeremy Browne)]

New psychoactive substances can present a significant risk to public health, and people should not assume that they are either legal or safe to consume. We are forensically monitoring the emergence of new drugs in the United Kingdom, and have banned many substances that have been proved to be harmful.

[Fiona Bruce]

I thank the Minister for his reply, and for the recent banning of khat, but what can be done about other legal highs which are being sold to young people in Cheshire? The police tell me that the moment the content of one packet is banned, a very similar substance, or the same one, is resold in a different wrapper.