Have your say on the Psychoactive Substances Bill

Do you have relevant expertise and experience or a special interest in the Psychoactive Substances Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament?

If so, you can submit your views in writing to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill.

Psychoactive Substances Bill 2015-16

Aims of the Psychoactive Substances Bill

A Bill to make provision about psychoactive substances; and for connected purposes.

Follow the progress of the Psychoactive Substance Bill

The Psychoactive Substances Bill was initially published in the House of Lords and completed its Parliamentary stages there on 20 July 2015. The Bill was presented to the House of Commons on 21 July 2015 and had its second reading debate on 19 October 2015.

This Bill has now been committed to a Public Bill Committee which will hold its first meeting on Tuesday 27 October. The Public Bill Committee is expected to finish and report the Bill to the House by Thursday 29 October.

Guidance for submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The Committee is expected to hold its first meeting on Tuesday 27 October and it would be extremely helpful to the Committee if written evidence was submitted before by Monday 26 October in order to inform the debate. The Committee will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Thursday 29 October.

Please note: When the Public Bill Committee reports, it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it could report earlier than Thursday 29 October 2015.

What should written evidence cover?

Your submission should address matters contained within the Bill and concentrate on issues where you have a special interest or expertise, and factual information of which you would like the Committee to be aware.

Your submission could most usefully:

suggest amendments to the Bill with explanation; and
(when available) support or oppose amendments tabled or proposed to the Bill by others with explanation.

It is helpful if the submission includes a brief introduction about you or your organisation. The submission should not have been previously published or circulated elsewhere.

If you have any concerns about your submission, please contact the Scrutiny Unit (details below).

How should written evidence be submitted?

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk. Please note that submissions sent to the Government department in charge of the Bill will not be treated as evidence to the Public Bill Committee.

Submissions should be in the form of a Word document. A summary should be provided. Paragraphs should be numbered, but there should be no page numbering.

Essential statistics or further details can be added as annexes, which should also be numbered. To make publication easier, please avoid the use of coloured graphs, complex diagrams or pictures.

As a guideline, submissions should not exceed 3,000 words.

Please include in the covering email the name, address, telephone number and email address of the person responsible for the submission. The submission should be dated.

What will happen to my evidence?

The written evidence will be circulated to all Committee Members to inform their consideration of the Bill.

Most submissions will also be published on the internet as soon as possible after the Committee has started sitting.

The Scrutiny Unit can help with any queries about written evidence.

Scrutiny Unit contact details

Email: scrutiny@parliament.uk
Telephone: 020 7219 8387
Address: Ian Hook
Senior Executive Officer
Scrutiny Unit
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA