After a sudden rise in both drink and needle spiking during 2021, the Home Affairs Committee (HAC) - a cross-party committee of MPs who examines government policy, spending and the law, conducted an inquiry.

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In the inquiry, they laid out 12 recommendations on how the government can address spiking with the final report including case studies of best practices of organisations  throughout the country and who were actively working on the issue.

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Section 71 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 requires the Government to prepare and publish a report about the nature and prevalence of an individual intentionally administering a substance to, or causing a substance to be taken by another person without their consent with the intention of causing them harm. The report should include the steps the government plan to take in relation to spiking.

This was due to be published and put before parliament by 28 April 2023. However, they failed to do so.

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So, where is it?

Three days before the report was due, the parliamentary Under-Secretary of State stated that ‘The report is now expected to be published following the May local elections".

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But it's August

Yep - and the report has still yet to see the light of day.

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Spiking has reached ‘epidemic’ levels

YouGov figures from last year reveal that 1 in 10 women in Britain say their drink has been spiked. With four in ten saying they wouldn’t go to the police through fear of not being believed. In total, 35% of those surveyed say that they have been or know of someone who has been a victim of spiking.

 

Recorded crimes of drink spiking showed an increased number each year between 2016 and 2019 with a rise in both injection and vape spiking as well.

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But what are the recorded crimes since 2019?

We don’t know - 2019 was the last year these figures were recorded with no official statistics routinely published.

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The Police Chief’s Council told the Home Office Affairs Committee that the poor reporting meant that the figures we do know of are likely to be a poor representation and that "the true figure" is likely to be "much higher". 

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So, what's next?

As of today, there is some (we think...) good news. After The Gemini Project's Pre Action Protocol (PAP) letter to the Home Secretary, which stated that the failure to publish the report is a breach of statutory duty and therefore by definition unlawful conduct, and Good Law Practice - an independent law firm launched in 2022 by Good Law Project, threatened legal proceedings, the Government have promised to publish the report in the autumn.

 

However, a specific date is yet to be announced and The Gemini Project and Good Law Project will continue to apply pressure to get a specific date. And if they don't get it? They'll reconsider legal action.