New working group formed to stamp out ‘heinous’ spiking attacks on students

A new working group will be set up to stamp out the “heinous” issue of spiking at universities, the UK Government announced today.

The group will bring together vice-chancellors, police, campaigners and victims to create plans for practical steps to keep students safe following a spate of attacks in UK universities.

Last year, universities said that the increasing number of cases of spiking by injection during nights out was “incredibly disturbing”.

Women reported fearing they had been targeted by people injecting them with drugs at nightlife venues, with reports from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Police Scotland found no evidence of any cases of spiking by injection north of the border.

A wave of drink spiking cases reported to the police and on social media sparked renewed campaigns to encourage nightclubs to better protect people on night outs. Photo: Marcus Millo / Getty Images / Canva Pro. mediaphotos / Getty Images / Canva Pro.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Professor Lisa Roberts, University of Exeter Vice Chancellor, has been appointed to lead the working group and coordinate responses across the university sector.

Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan said she would be asking every university to introduce a policy to tackle spiking by the end of the year.

“I think to tackle this horrendous and heinous problem, we do need to work collaboratively,” she told the PA news agency.

“Most of these incidences happen outside of the university or college campuses, but of course they are important anchor institutions in their community – equally, we know that the night-time economy have a role to play here, police have a role to play here.”

She added that the Government wanted to “hear from the voices of victims” and praised the “exceptional individuals [who] have the courage to come forward and use their harrowing and awful experience to try and help others”.

She said her priority was that students felt “safe” so that they could “enjoy that broader student experience that is so important”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scotland-should-consider-introducing-specific-spiking-offence-msps-told-3542645

Ms Donelan said she knew someone personally affected by spiking, and she wanted to highlight this to show spiking “is something that is happening to thousands of people, predominantly women, every year – this isn’t something that is aloof and people don’t experience it”.

She added that the Government wanted to “remove some of the stigma around this issue” with a Students for Sustainability study showing that 70% of those who believe they have been spiked do not come forward, which “leads to the perpetrator in fact getting away with it, free to attack another victim”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/police-find-no-confirmed-cases-of-spiking-by-injection-3536024

Last month a Home Affairs Select Committee report found the true prevalence of spiking – which can include spiking someone’s drinks, “hazing” rituals and attacks with needles – remains unknown.

A recent survey by student outlet The Tab suggested 11% of students believe they have had their drink spiked, while research by the Alcohol Education Trust found more than one in 10 young adults had been victims of spiking.

READ MORE: https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/drink-spiking-what-is-drink-spiking-what-symptoms-to-look-out-for-how-to-stay-safe-and-are-injections-being-used-3428174

On Tuesday, Ms Donelan and Home Office minister for safeguarding Rachel Maclean met victims, campaigners, senior police officers and university leaders to discuss attacks seen in different regions and explore how more collaboration between universities and the police could give a clearer picture of how prevalent the problem is.

Ms Maclean said: “We have already reclassified drugs which have been used for drink spiking and provided funding through the Safety of Women at Night and Safer Streets funds to support initiatives which prevent people from becoming victims of spiking.