Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Deferred
Paragraph: 12
Outdoor music festivals require higher safeguarding standards for their younger, more vulnerable attendees.
Conclusion
We believe that a more formal and higher standard is required for outdoor music festivals owing to the comparatively younger age of festival-goers and the additional vulnerability that arises from their camping over at such festivals.
Government Response Summary
The government's response focused on improving data collection and victim support for spiking incidents, including establishing a new NPCC reporting mechanism, deflecting from the recommendation for a more formal and higher standard of safeguarding at outdoor music festivals.
Paragraph Reference:
12
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The Government recognises that spiking is a largely under-reported crime, and that every report of needle or drink spiking is different and, consequently, there is no ‘one size fits all’, or default, crime classification solution. The Government, alongside law enforcement, have taken a number of steps to improve both the quantity and quality of data on these incidents. Following the Home Secretary’s request for the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to review urgently the extent and scale of the issue of spiking, the NPCC established a reporting mechanism to enable all police forces to centrally report any incidences in order to help us gain a better understanding of the scale and nature of the problem. This reporting mechanism, and the information provided by forces is continuously under review to ensure that it is fit for purpose and that we have the right information to hand. The Police have been working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to develop guidance procedures that prioritise victim care and support, including those who may also have taken recreational drugs. It is vital that these individuals are first and foremost seen as victims, and do not avoid coming forward to report an incident out of fear that they will be prosecuted for taking an illegal substance. The Home Office Crime Registrar has issued communications and guidance to all Police Force Crime Registrars with advice on how to indicate within crime recording software more effectively whether an incident was suspected to be drink or needle spiking. A number of Force Crime Registrars have developed local guidance for their forces on how to record incidents more effectively in different scenarios which is a positive step, particularly given their developed understanding of local procedures and systems. We anticipate that this guidance will take some time to embed within forces but expect that it will improve the overall quality of data being reported. Legal framework