Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures taken by the police to tackle nitrous oxide use in the West Midlands.

The government controlled nitrous oxide as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on 8 November last year. We are keeping implementation of the ban under review with police forces and key stakeholders.

The government is aware of early successes from law enforcement partners, including the first conviction under the new law this month. The government has committed to publish a review of the effect of the control of nitrous oxide under the 1971 Act.

This will be a broad-ranging assessment of the effect of control and will be published three years from the date of its control in November 2026.