The Home Affairs Committee publishes the Government’s response to its report on spiking.
The report warned that spiking would remain an invisible crime unless more was done to improve awareness and support victims. It found there was insufficient data to provide a clear picture of its true extent and the motives behind it. The Committee called on the Government to do more to support victims by removing barriers to reporting and providing long-term physical and emotional support. It also found that the creation of a specific criminal offence of spiking could help deter offenders and show it was a crime taken seriously.
In its response the Government welcomes the majority of the Committee’s recommendations and commits to working with police, local government and night-time industries to produce a ‘victim-first’ approach to combatting spiking. Their response to each conclusion and recommendation is set out in the attached report.
CCommenting on the Government response, NTIA CEO, Michael Kill said:
“We welcome the release of the Home Affairs Committee’s report on Spiking, clearly highlighting that the solution to tackling this crime is in effective partnerships.”
“The NTIA have worked closely with the Home Office, NPCC, local police, key stakeholders as well as devolved nation police forces to identify initiatives, share best practices and consider solutions to tackling these crimes over the last 9 months.”
“We continue to strive for the Home Office to lead a national approach, advocating for a national training standard, administration of an effective operational process for businesses to follow through to police investigation, a clear categorisation of Spiking as a crime and the continuation of the current national campaign against spiking targeting perpetrators.”
A spokesperson for the UK Door Security Association said:
“We welcome the Home Affairs Committee’s report on Spiking, and within it the recognition that we have some challenges with regard to security resources, particularly the number of women within the security sector.”
“It is somewhat frustrating to once again see the same data we have seen for the last 12 months, which identifies the number of Door Security Licenses in circulation.”
“What it does not highlight is the number of inactive licenses, or even the licenses of people who are no longer in the country.”
“With the licensed system set up as it stands, many license applicants apply for Door Security licenses to work within the static guarding sector, and never set foot on a door or within licensed premises as a member of security, further skewing the figures highlighted within these reported figures.”
“We will only be able to tackle the problem, when we accept that we have a problem.”
“There needs to be a fundamental review of the Private Security Act and the role of the regulator before we are able to solve the issues presented within this report today.”
