In its 55th report, the cross-party
House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has
criticised the Home Office for process failures in relation to
its responsibilities in the area of Drug Precursor Chemicals
(DPCs). DPCs can be used in the manufacture of illicit drugs such
as fentanyl but may also be in circulation for legitimate
purposes under controls specified by the Home Office.
The Committee considered the draft Criminal Justice
(International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Amendment) Order 2026 and
draft Controlled Drugs (Drug Precursors) (Amendment and
Revocation) Regulations 2026. Its report notes that the
need for these Regulations stemmed from a number of failings,
specifically:
- That the Home Office was unaware that changes to an
international convention should have been reflected in UK
legislation;
- Inadequacies in former EU law, now part of the UK statute
book, that have remained uncorrected in the five years since the
end of the Brexit implementation period;
- The issuing of, and charging for, certain authorisations
without a clear statutory backing; and
- A mismatch between DPCs that are controlled and those which
are the subject of criminal offences.
The Home Office did not provide satisfactory explanations for the
process failures. The Committee concluded that there had been
inadequate handover procedures between departing and incoming
staff and a lack of a legislation log. The department told the
Committee that “processes would be put in place” to address these
issues.
In conclusion, the report draws the two sets of draft
Regulations to the special attention of the House.
, Chair of the
Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee,
said:
“The Home Office has clearly not been discharging its
responsibilities appropriately in the area of DPCs, because the
draft Regulations considered by the Committee seek to address
several process failures. While welcoming that steps are now
being taken to regularise the position, the failures highlighted
should not have arisen in the first place.
“Essential steps such as keeping detailed handover notes and
maintaining a legislation log for basic oversight purposes should
have been in place as a matter of course to enable effective
running of any government department, especially one that deals
with matters of law and order.
“We were particularly concerned to hear that former staff were
not being contacted to explore why the failings might have
arisen. This could limit the lessons learned by the Home Office.
In addition, the former staff themselves will remain unaware of
their errors with the risk that they could be repeated in
subsequent roles.
“The responses we received from the Home Office have done little
to convince us that it is taking the failings in this case
sufficiently seriously and as a result I have now written
to the Minister, MP, asking for her comments on
the failures identified by the Committee.”
Notes to Editors
- The draft Criminal Justice
(International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Amendment) Order 2026
and the draftControlled Drugs
(Drug Precursors) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 2026
were laid by the Home Office on 26 February 2026.
- Both sets of Regulations are subject to the affirmative
procedure, which means that both Houses of Parliament must
approve them before they can become law.
- The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny
Committee scrutinises the policy aspects of all secondary
legislation laid before the House of Lords and subject to
proceedings in Parliament and reports on them weekly. More
information about the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
and its activities in scrutinising government legislation is
available on its webpage.
