The government has now said it will not create a specific offence for spiking.

The government will not create a specific offence for spiking as there are “already several offences which cover incidents of spiking”.

It follows a commitment last year to look at new legislation.

Now, Home Office minister Sarah Dines has said a new law is “unnecessary” and that the government has not found “any gap in the law that a new spiking offence would fill”.

The minister confirmed the Government’s position in a letter to Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, who chairs the Home Affairs Committee. It was written in December but published by the committee on Wednesday.

She also said the Government plans to consult on the potential changing of statutory guidance to include “explicit reference to spiking being illegal and give examples of such spiking”.  

The Home Affairs Committee had previously said that a specific spiking offence would have “several benefits” – including increasing reporting and “sending a clear message to perpetrators that this is a serious crime”.

Miss Dines said: “We have concluded that there are already several offences which cover incidents of spiking and we have not found any gap in the law that a new spiking offence would fill.

“The existing offences cover all methods of spiking, including by drink, needle, vape, cigarette, food or any other known form.

“Police are yet to encounter a case where they could not apply an existing offence.”

She added that the government’s focus should remain on non-legislative measures to tackle spiking.

The letter also sets out that the Home Office will be undertaking a consultation on amending the Licensing Act 2003 so the guidance “could include explicit reference to spiking, providing a government definition of the crime, highlighting the existing offences which can be used to prosecute incidents of spiking, including examples of spiking and providing signposting to resources for venues”.

The National Police Chiefs Council said at the end of last year almost 5,000 cases of needle and drink spiking incidents were reported to police over 12 months.