Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has taken a proactive approach to understand the prevalence, raise awareness and address concerns about the incidence of reported spiking in Scotland.

Several roundtable meetings have taken place to help steer the joint Scottish Government and public sector response to the act of spiking. These meetings have been designed to discuss the range of initiatives and information available on spiking. Significant work was undertaken to raise awareness and heighten vigilance in the run up to the return to college and university campuses. Information has also been made available on the safer.scot website, to inform and support the public around the subject of spiking. This has been promoted through the roundtable membership and by the representative organisations and sectors.

Furthermore, Police Scotland has prioritised its response to incidents of spiking. A comprehensive Investigative Strategy has been developed and circulated to provide guidance and direction to staff responding to and investigating incidents of spiking. A Detective Superintendent has national investigative oversight and Senior Investigating Officers have been appointed within each policing division to lead on all spiking related investigations locally.

The act of spiking is utterly abhorrent and we remain absolutely committed to working with partners to tackle all forms of violence against women.

The Scottish Government has taken a proactive approach to understand the prevalence and address concerns about the incidence of reported spiking in Scotland.

Since November 2021, several roundtable meetings have taken place to bring together partners from across the justice system including policing, victims organisations and prosecution in addition to representatives from colleges and universities, community safety and night-time economy sector. These meetings have been designed to discuss the range of initiatives and information available on spiking. Information is available on the safer.scot website, to inform and support the public around the subject of spiking. This is being updated on a quarterly basis.

Analysis of spiking incidents by Police Scotland is undertaken on a weekly basis to ensure national oversight is maintained and understanding evolves. The Scottish Government is kept informed about any changes in the prevalence of spiking. The number of reported incidents related to spiking are published annually within the National Statistics bulletin on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland.

Spiking can be prosecuted under the common law offence of drugging, which is a broad offence covering all types of drink spiking. Another common law offence which may be relevant depending on the individual facts and circumstances of each case is assault. There is also a more specific statutory offence contained in section 11 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 called administering a substance for sexual purposes. This provides it is an offence for a person to intentionally administer a substance, or cause a substance to be taken by another person, without the other person knowing, and without any reasonable belief that the other person knows, for a sexual purpose. A sexual purpose is for the purpose of stupefying or overpowering someone, so as to enable any person to engage in a sexual activity which involves the person who administered the substance.

We have no plans at this time to create a specific criminal offence of spiking however we keep all laws under review.

Analysis of spiking incidents is undertaken by Police Scotland on a weekly basis to ensure national oversight is maintained and understanding evolves. The Scottish Government is kept informed about any changes in the prevalence of spiking.

Most recently, a report by Police Scotland from 7 December 2022 indicated that in mid-October 2021, Police Scotland noted a significant increase in the number of reported crimes relating to spiking. This pattern continued for an initial 8 week period, peaking at almost 60 in the first week of November 2021. After this initial period, reports of spiking decreased quickly and amounted to single figure weekly reporting by mid-December 2021. A slight increase was noted in the second half of January and into February 2022 however levels have since reduced, returning to an average of 6 reports per week since mid-December 2021 until 30 October 2022. The report showed that between 1 October 2021 and 30 October 2022, there were 601 recorded crimes relating to Spiking.

Several roundtable meetings have taken place to help steer the joint Scottish Government and public sector response to the act of spiking. These meetings have been designed to discuss the range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Roundtable discussions have and will continue to include the consideration of spiking test kits. It was discussed that strips vary widely in terms of what they can test for and are not a reliable diagnostic tool.

Key outcomes from roundtable discussions focussed on messaging, training and prevention, with the Violence Reduction Unit supporting Police Scotland and businesses within the night-time economy sector to continue roll out of the bystander training to raise awareness for staff to help keep people safe.

We expect universities and colleges to be places where students and staff are free from all forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), including spiking.

Universities and colleges are autonomous bodies. However, they have a responsibility for the welfare and safety of their students and it is for each institution to determine procedures to keep students safe from spiking.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners including representatives from colleges and universities to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking for students.

Representatives from College Development Network, Universities Scotland, NUS Scotland and The Student Services Organisation (AMOSSHE) were involved in these roundtable discussions. Significant collaborative work through the roundtable format was undertaken to raise awareness and heighten vigilance in the run up to the return to college and university campuses.

The Scottish Government currently funds the Emily Test charity to develop the Emily Test Charter and the accompanying LISTEN Risk Assessment Tool. The Charter provides a framework to help institutions start or improve their work in tackling GBV, and we would encourage all institutions to engage with it.

We will continue to work closely with the university and college sectors, and their representatives, through the Equally Safe in Colleges and Universities Core Leadership Group, as part of our approach to tackling all forms of GBV.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners including representatives from the major events sector to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking, which they are adopting.

With concerts, festivals and other events resuming following the pandemic, Police Scotland have been working with partners to identify appropriate vehicles for the delivery of the key messaging. For example, as an interim measure and in advance of the Harry Styles concert at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow on 11 June 2022, an overview of ByStander theory was provided to the event organiser for inclusion in Steward’s briefings, in lieu of being able to facilitate a full ByStander awareness session. Feedback from this approach was very positive and Police Scotland rolled this out nationally for Event Policing Leads in advance of a number of events scheduled over the summer 2022 period.

We have also worked with members of the roundtable to bring together the range of initiatives and key messaging on safer.scot to reassure the public that there is a coordinated response to the dangers of spiking, in whatever form it might take.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Representatives from COSLA and SOLAR (Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland) Licensing Committee were invited to the roundtable discussions.

We have also separately engaged with the SOLAR working group membership and the National Licensing Standard Officers (LSO) Forum to better understand the scale of spiking in Scotland within venues and consider whether any further actions are required. Previous discussions have not suggested any moves to introduce mandatory reporting conditions, however, under existing licensing laws it is possible for Licensing Standards Officers to submit reports, objections or representations on various matters to Licensing Boards. Where appropriate, LSOs may also be required to submit applications for a review of premises licences. More generally, we would expect independent Licensing Boards to co-operate and liaise with Police Scotland where required to ensure that consistency with the licensing objectives is upheld in the operation of the licensed premises at all times.

The Scottish Government does not intervene in or comment on the investigation, prosecution or sentencing of individual cases which are independent operational matters for Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the courts.

Police Scotland have advised they take all reports of spiking seriously and thoroughly investigates all reports.

A comprehensive Investigative Strategy has been developed and circulated to provide guidance and direction to staff responding to and investigating incidents of spiking. A Detective Superintendent has national investigative oversight and Senior Investigating Officers have been appointed within each policing division to lead on all spiking related investigations locally. Police Scotland’s focus is on identifying people who carry out an assault in this way, investigating fully, gathering evidence, and working with Crown Office to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Where evidence is provided to Crown Office as regards an offence, it is for independent prosecutors to decide what action to take. If a case is prosecuted, it is for the independent court to determine whether an accused person is guilty and if so, what an appropriate sentence should be.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners including representatives from the night-time industry and licensed premises sector to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Key outcomes from roundtable discussions focussed on messaging, training and prevention, with the Violence Reduction Unit supporting Police Scotland and businesses within the night-time economy sector to continue roll out of the bystander training to raise awareness for staff to help keep people safe.

Businesses within the night-time economy sector invest in training for staff and support a number of initiatives to keep people safe. The Scottish Government has long supported the industry-led Best Bar None Scotland initiative, a unique national accreditation and award scheme, which has been supported by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre – with input from Police Scotland – for a number of years. It is aimed at raising standards and rewarding licensed premises who undertake positive management practices in support of a safe night out. There was an acknowledged impact on the scheme as a result of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis and the Scottish Government will be working with partners to identify options for improving delivery of its core objectives.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14206 on 2 February 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .