Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 20 December 2023 (HL1278), on what basis the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) marked its report Interaction and relationship between the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 "in confidence" and did not publish it, given that the working protocol between the Home Secretary and the ACMD states that "The ACMD will publish its advice concurrent with its presentation to Ministers, unless there are pressing public or health protection reasons, or other reasons, for not doing so."

As the ACMD is an independent Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), sponsored by the Home Office, the basis for publication of its reports is a matter for the ACMD.