Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 14 December (HL767), what steps they have taken to ensure that parliamentarians are properly informed about the issues raised in the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs report Interaction and relationship between the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, sent to the Home Secretary in December 2016.

As set out by the response to Written Answer HL767, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) marked the document titled “Interaction and relationship between the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016” “in confidence”. The document was not intended for publication and there are no plans to publish it. The portion that has been made public was made public under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA 2000”) and following the decision of the relevant tribunal (case reference EA/2021/0301).

The portion released under the FOIA 2000 recommended a review of the Working Protocol between the ACMD and the Home Office to take into account the functions of the ACMD under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”). The Working Protocol has not been revised since 2011 and is available at the following link: Working Protocol between the Home Secretary and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Government intends to undertake a review in due course and if this results in a revised Working Protocol, the revised version will be published on gov.uk.