Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the joint HM Inspectorate of Probation and the Care Quality Commission report entitled New Psychoactive Substances: the response by probation and substance misuse services in the community in England, published in November 2017, what assessment he has made of the level of specific training on new psychoactive substances provided to community probation staff in England.

We are grateful to H M Inspectorate and the Care Quality Commission for their report. We are working with partner agencies across the criminal justice system, as well as the Department of Health, to address the problem of new psychoactive substances and ensure that probation staff have the information they need to help offenders tackle substance misuse problems. The National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies are drawing up action plans in response to the recommendations in the report that are addressed to them, including in relation to training.