Yesterday in Parliament, Judith challenged the government on their response to young girls and women being spiked. There has been a rise in the reporting of needle spiking in the media and on social networks in recent months. Across September and October of last year, the National Police Chief’s Council reported 198 confirmed reports of drink spiking, and 56 reports of spiking through injections.
Speaking in the commons, Judith Cummins MP asked: “Many girls and women are afraid of enjoying a night out or going to a music festival for fear of being spiked, raped, and assaulted. What work is the minister doing with venues such as bars, nightclubs and music festivals to prevent this from happening and to ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place, and what is the assessment of the scale of problem at these venues?”
In response, Rachel Maclean, Minister for Safeguarding responded: “The night time economy are playing a key role, and they are taking their responsibilities seriously. We work very closely with them as the government and we’re we are providing funding and helping them provide training to staff so women can feel safe at night.”
Commenting after, Judith said: “No-one should be at risk whilst enjoying time with friends, and the fact is that spiking and sexual assault disproportionally affect girls and women. While I welcome the work to tackle drinks spiking, I remain worried that proper safeguarding measures are not in place. The Government urgently need to improve the understanding of the scale and impact of spiking of this worrying crime, and work with police, venues and event organisers to prevent this type of crime so that women and girls are safe.”
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