Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will give police further powers to combat antisocial drug smoking within houses.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police, local authorities and other relevant agencies already have a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour, including drug misuse. This includes the powers provided by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, such as the Closure Power, which the police and councils can use to close premises which are being used, or are likely to be used, to commit nuisance or disorder, and the power provided under Section 17 (1) (b) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) for police officers to enter a property without a warrant to arrest a person for an indictable offence, where there are reasonable grounds for believing the person is on the premises.
It is unlawful to possess or supply controlled drugs without a Home Office licence and we expect the police to enforce the law, but the use of such powers is an operational decision and, as with all intrusive police powers, must be exercised in a lawful, necessary, proportionate and accountable way, in accordance with the PACE Codes of Practice.
Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) is another key tool that helps the police to identify individuals who have been using illicit drugs and support them to change their behaviour and reduce future offending. Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are expanding the offences which can trigger a test and enhancing powers to widen the range of drugs that can be tested for.
Tacking anti-social behaviour, including dug misuse, is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. We have committed to adding 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and ensuring residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong, and we remain committed to working across public health, education, policing and wider public services on prevention to drive down drug use and ensure more people receive timely intervention and support.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on trends in the number of offences for driving under the influence of (a) alcohol and (b) drugs.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including the number of ‘Causing death by careless driving under influence of drink or drugs’ offences. These are published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables
It is not possible to separately identify which of these offences relate to alcohol and which relate to drugs.
There are a number of summary only offences relating to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which do not result in death, but these are not collected by the Home Office, as they are not notifiable offences.
The Home Office also collects and publishes data on the number of roadside alcohol screening breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, on an annual basis, as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures: Roads policing’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data, up to 2023, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-roads-policing-to-december-2023
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the quantity of Venezuelan drug exports prevented from being smuggled to the UK in each year since 2020.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Drug misuse can have a devastating impact on the safety, productivity, and health and wellbeing of our communities. Cocaine is smuggled into the UK via a number of different routes and methodologies, which frequently change in response to international law enforcement activity. The Home Office does not publish data by country of origin. Since the beginning of 2020, Border Force, across England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland have seized the following amounts of cocaine from overseas:
Year | Amount of cocaine seized (Kgs) |
2020 | 6,512 |
2021 | 16,044 |
2022 | 16,337.33 |
2023 | 18,038.14 |
2024 | 26,143.19 |
2025 (Q1 & Q2) | 15,268.37 |
The National Crime Agency’s National Strategic Assessment 2025 on Drugs provides further detail on cocaine flows and can be found here - NSA 2025 - Drugs - National Crime Agency.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the quantity of Venezuelan drug exports smuggled into the UK in each year since 2020.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Drug misuse can have a devastating impact on the safety, productivity, and health and wellbeing of our communities. Cocaine is smuggled into the UK via a number of different routes and methodologies, which frequently change in response to international law enforcement activity. The Home Office does not publish data by country of origin. Since the beginning of 2020, Border Force, across England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland have seized the following amounts of cocaine from overseas:
Year | Amount of cocaine seized (Kgs) |
2020 | 6,512 |
2021 | 16,044 |
2022 | 16,337.33 |
2023 | 18,038.14 |
2024 | 26,143.19 |
2025 (Q1 & Q2) | 15,268.37 |
The National Crime Agency’s National Strategic Assessment 2025 on Drugs provides further detail on cocaine flows and can be found here - NSA 2025 - Drugs - National Crime Agency.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent general aviation aircrafts, landing at small airports, airfields and airstrips, from facilitating the smuggling of (a) people, (b) drug and (c) arms.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The security of the UK border remains our top priority, and this government is committed to strengthening border security. Border Force conducts robust security checks on those arriving into the UK, including 100% checks on all notified general aviation flights and spot checks at aerodromes to reinforce security.
Border Force allocates resources based on assessed risk, applying intelligence and targeting techniques. We have significantly reduced the number of aerodromes authorised to handle international or Common Travel Area flights by 85%, and anyone who fails to submit the required information prior to flying faces civil penalties.
Border Force has implemented a range of initiatives to address vulnerabilities. These include:
• Substantially reducing the number of aerodromes permitted to handle flights to and from the UK.
• Introducing a civil penalties regime for non-compliance with airfield designation requirements.
• Person details checked on all notified GA flights.
• The General Aviation (Persons on Board, Flight Information and Civil Penalties Regulations), which came into force on 6 April 2024, require that specified information about General Aviation flights and persons onboard must be submitted online and in advance of departure to Home Office Systems. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in civil penalty.
• Working closely with the National Crime Agency and the police to counter threats such as smuggling, immigration crime and terrorism at UK airfields has resulted in seizures of Class A Drugs (in total approx 130kgs) at small airfields and identification of undocumented arrivals, leading to multiple criminal convictions and working with partners to identify non-compliant GA flights.
• Regular Home Office engagement with the GA community representatives and cross-government partners.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle drug dealing in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation. County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 2,300 deal lines closed, 6,200 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,100 deal line holders), 3,200 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 600 knives seized.
While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces. This is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate a national law enforcement response. We also have a dedicated fund to help local police forces, including Surrey Police, tackle county lines.
As part of the Programme, the NCLCC regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in. The most recent of these took place 23-29 June 2025 and resulted in 241 lines closed, as well as 1,965 arrests, 1,179 individuals safeguarded, and 501 weapons seized. In Surrey, proactive activity during this period resulted in 7 deal lines seized, 16 arrests, and 4 weapons seized.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the availability in the UK of (a) ketamine and (b) nitazenes through online purchase.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs online, including that of ketamine and nitazenes.
We are taking a co-ordinated approach to tackle harmful online content, including material associated with the sale of illegal drugs. This strategy combines law enforcement activity, stronger engagement with technology companies, improved education to raise awareness of risks and harms, and the introduction of measures that require internet companies to take responsibility for content on their platforms.
This includes strengthening the regulatory framework to address online harms. The unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023. In-scope providers are legally required to implement measures to protect their users and to remove illegal content from their platforms. Ofcom, as the independent regulator of the Act, is closely monitoring compliance with the regime.
The National Crime Agency also works with partners in the UK and internationally to identify offenders operating online, and to take down UK-based sites committing offences.
Asked by: Sadik Al-Hassan (Labour - North Somerset)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of the study undertaken by the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Bath, published on 5 September 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs. We are taking a coordinated approach to tackle harmful online content, including material associated with vapes containing illegal drugs. This combines law enforcement activity, education, and also measures compelling online platforms to act.
To this end, the illegal sale of drugs is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023.Ofcom is closely monitoring compliance with the regime. The National Crime Agency also works with partners in the UK and internationally to identify offenders operating online, and to take down UK-based sites committing offences.
Asked by: Sadik Al-Hassan (Labour - North Somerset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent the online sale of vapes containing illegal drugs.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs, including online, and the harms associated with their misuse.
We are taking a coordinated approach across Government that includes law enforcement activity, stronger engagement with technology companies, better education for users so they understand the risks and harms; as well as requiring internet companies to take responsibility for content on their platforms.
We have strengthened the regulatory framework to address online harms, and the unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is a priority offence under the illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act 2023. In-scope providers are legally required to implement measures to protect their users and to remove illegal content from their platforms, including that related to the sale of vapes containing illegal drugs. Ofcom, as the independent regulator of the Act, is monitoring compliance with the regime.
The National Crime Agency also works with partners in the UK and internationally to identify offenders operating online, and to take down UK-based sites committing offences.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to provide additional support to police officers to tackle drug-related crime .in North West Norfolk constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation. County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we continue to target exploitative drug dealing gangs and break the organised crime groups behind the trade.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 2,300 deal lines closed, 6,200 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,100 deal line holders), 3,200 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people, and 600 knives seized.
While the majority of county lines originate from the areas covered by the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and West Yorkshire Police, we recognise that this is a national issue which affects all forces, which is why we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate a national law enforcement response. We also have a dedicated fund to help local police forces, including Norfolk Constabulary, tackle the scourge of county lines.
As part of the Programme, the NCLCC regularly coordinates weeks of intensive action against county lines gangs, which all police forces take part in, including Norfolk Constabulary. The most recent of these took place 23-29 June 2025 and resulted in 241 lines closed, as well as 1,965 arrests, 1,179 individuals safeguarded and 501 weapons seized.