Commons Chamber
Oral Answers to Questions - Mon 15 Jan 2024
Home Office

Mentions:
1: David Evennett (Con - Bexleyheath and Crayford) Friend the Minister for Legal Migration and the Border for all their work towards delivering on our manifesto - Speech Link
2: Richard Fuller (Con - North East Bedfordshire) Friend agree to meet all Bedfordshire MPs so that we can press the case for increases in funding for - Speech Link
3: Laura Farris (Con - Newbury) is that it provides women with a free taxi service home, where the safer streets fund will reimburse - Speech Link
4: Laura Farris (Con - Newbury) able to get the test done on site on the night, and get more of those offenders behind bars. - Speech Link

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Westminster Hall
Spiking - Thu 14 Dec 2023
Home Office

Mentions:
1: None [Relevant documents: e-petition 597143, Fund free drink spiking test kits for all bars; e-petition 598986 - Speech Link
2: Judith Cummins (Lab - Bradford South) drink-spiking tests for all bars. - Speech Link
3: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) I believe that universities must give them to students free of charge, and that bars around campus should - Speech Link
4: Caroline Nokes (Con - Romsey and Southampton North) He had a range of kits. - Speech Link
5: Judith Cummins (Lab - Bradford South) Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham) for all his hard work on spiking and I commend the Chair of the - Speech Link

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Written Question

Spiking

Monday 23rd January 2023

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing free spiking test kits in nightclubs and bars.

Answered by Sarah Dines

The Home Office collect details of spiking incidents when they are recorded through the Home Office Data Hub and this information is provided by most forces in England and Wales.

Using these police recorded crime data the assessment is that during the third quarter of 2021/2022 there was a significant rise in people reporting to police that they suspected they had been the victims of spiking. During the first three quarters in 2022/2023 the levels of recorded crime that fall under the offences which cover spiking across England and Wales have reduced significantly, albeit they are demonstrably higher than they were in the period running up to Q3 2021/22.

I urge anyone who suspects that they have been spiked to contact the police.

The Home Office is leading the cross-government approach to understanding and tackling spiking. In 2021, the then Home Secretary asked the National Police Chief's Council to urgently review and coordinate the national policing response to spiking. Since then:

• Spiking has been incorporated into the Government's communications campaign to tackle violence against women and girls, known as 'ENOUGH'. This includes providing important information about the crime on the campaign website and signposting victims to support services.
• We have worked closely with the Festivals and Outdoor Events sector to ensure the safety of the public at summer events, ensuring that sufficient protocols, training, communications, and guidance was in place for event organisers, the police, security personnel and audiences.
• Government have supported Universities UK to provide guidance to universities on spiking published ahead of the Autumn 2022 term and the ‘freshers’ period. We provided further communications on spiking to local authorities and supported NPCC targeted communications.
• Police forces across the country increased their focus on spiking with high visibility police patrols across town centres and areas with a high density of pubs, bars and clubs.
• The Police have produced a forensic strategy and have worked with the forensic provider Eurofins to develop a rapid testing capability. This accredited capability enables the police to send up to 50 samples per week with a project turnaround of 2-3 weeks, with the options for samples to be upgraded to be used as evidence in criminal proceedings. This enables law enforcement to better support victims, and also build our understanding of what drugs are being used and how common or not they are.
• The Home Secretary will be publishing a report in April on the nature and prevalence of spiking, and action that government has taken, and will take, to tackle it.

In December 2021, the NPCC established a rapid urine testing capability, which to date, remains the only accredited urine testing service which can later be “upgraded” for use in criminal proceedings.

The government position remains clear: off the shelf testing kits should not be used in isolation due to their unknown accuracy and the lack of any standardisation across the industry. If such test kits are used, we still recommend that individuals contact the police to submit a sample for processing through the rapid testing capability as soon as possible in order to receive the most accurate results and to help bring spiking offenders to justice.

Frontline police officers are trained to support victims when they report crime. All police forces receive regular updates from the National Police Chiefs’ Council spiking gold group. This helps to standardise procedures across England and Wales but provides forces with flexibility to adapt training to their local situation.

Through Safety of Women at Night Fund and the current (fourth) round of the Safer Streets Fund we have awarded funding for a range of initiatives to tackle drink spiking, including training for night-time economy staff, CCTV and street lighting and drink protectors.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has ensured that the training which door supervisors and security guards must undergo in order to obtain an SIA licence includes specific content on preventing violence against women and girls, and it is running campaigns to remind the industry and operatives of their role and responsibility in keeping people safe, with a focus on women’s safety.

The government also welcomes initiatives such as Ask Angela and Licensing Security and Vulnerability Initiative (LSAVI) and would encourage local areas or venues to consider how they can be used or replicated where necessary.

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Westminster Hall
Spiking Incidents: Prevention - Wed 11 Jan 2023
Home Office

Mentions:
1: None nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry; and e-petition 597143, Fund free drink spiking test - Speech Link
2: Alex Sobel (LAB - Leeds North West) Surely part of the solution is that all police forces should have testing kits and test in all incidents - Speech Link
3: Sally-Ann Hart (CON - Hastings and Rye) drink test strips to test random, unattended drinks, or the drinks of concerned customers, for substances - Speech Link
4: Ruth Edwards (CON - Rushcliffe) to test for spiking.Rushcliffe has benefited from the Safer Streets Fund; West Bridgford and Trent Bridge - Speech Link

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Select Committee

Formal Minutes 2021-22: List of closed petitions

Formal Minutes Sep. 02 2022

Committee: Petitions Committee

Found: /petitions/570522 185 Fund free childcare for all pre‐school pupils https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions

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Select Committee

Local Government Association

SPI0021 - Spiking

Written Evidence Jan. 19 2022

Inquiry: Spiking
Inquiry Status: Open
Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)

Found: SPI0021 - Spiking Local Government Association Written Evidence

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Select Committee

The Alcohol Education Trust

SPI0019 - Spiking

Written Evidence Jan. 19 2022

Inquiry: Spiking
Inquiry Status: Open
Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)

Found: SPI0019 - Spiking The Alcohol Education Trust Written Evidence

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Select Committee

Formal Minutes 2019-21: List of closed petitions

Formal Minutes Nov. 18 2021

Committee: Petitions Committee

Found: drink.

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Closed Petition closed 21st March 2022

Fund free drink spiking test kits for all bars - Final Signatures: 16,535

It’s time for the Government to take drink spiking seriously, starting with providing bars with free drink spiking test kits. This will allow for people who suspect their drink has been spiked to get a free instant result and take any necessary action.

The Government responsed to this petition on 22nd November 2021 (View Full Response)
The Government has no plans to introduce free drink testing kits. Premises can use privately procured kits and the law allows local authorities to set conditions on night-time venues to reduce crime.

Found: The pubs, clubs and bars are back open and the spikers are back out too.

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