The Home Office latest published data on Fentanyl seizures made by the police and Border Force for England and Wales covers the period April 2023-March 2024 and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2024

The Home Office does not publish the monetary (£) value of drugs seized. In the year ending March 2024, the latest published statistics show that police forces and Border Force seized:

• 22 Fentanyl seizures, totalling 218 doses and 0.3kg
• 6 Fentanyl analogue seizures, totalling 1 dose and 1.3 kg

Fentanyl analogues include Carfentanil, Lofentanil, Sufentanil, Alfentanil (Rapifen) and Fentanyl (derivatives of).

Border Force also release quarterly transparency data which include Fentanyl seizures. The latest available data are below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-q4-2024

The Department remains committed to exploring the extension of medicine responsibilities for non-medical professionals. This will support the aim that patients are cared for, and treated by, the most appropriate healthcare professional to meet their needs, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Many regulated healthcare professionals have already received extended medicine responsibilities and the Department is committed to assessing the impact that these changes have had on patient care.

Regarding the extension of paramedics’ medicine responsibilities, there is a process in place for making changes to ensure proposals are safe and beneficial for patients. Officials are carefully considering proposals relating to a range of healthcare professionals, including paramedics, and the use of fentanyl as an analgesic agent, as part of wider work.

The Government takes seriously the threat from potent synthetic drugs, including synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and nitazenes, including protonitazene, and is taking action. Reducing drug harms has important benefits for the Government’s mission to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and break down barriers to opportunity.

The HMG Synthetic Opioids Taskforce is working with partner agencies such as the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Department for Health and Social Care and the National Police Chiefs Council to counter the distribution and use of these dangerous substances.

To stem the supply of illicit synthetic opioids to and within the UK, the NCA, Police and Border Force are working together to ensure all lines of enquiry are prioritised and vigorously pursued. This involves mapping and targeting key offenders, including those operating within dark web markets, as well as training Border Force dogs to detect a range of nitazenes and fentanyl to stop these substances entering the country in the first place.

Fentanyl and protonitazene are both listed as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA 1971). This means that the supply of these drugs carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Possession carries a maximum penalty of up to 7 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

The Government has recently introduced a generic control for nitazenes which is intended to reduce the likelihood that criminals can circumvent existing controls by making minor alterations to the chemical structure of nitazenes that are already controlled as Class A drugs under the MDA 1971. This legislation came into force on 15 January.

Additionally, the unlawful sale of controlled drugs online is listed as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act, meaning that under this legislation technology companies must proactively remove this type of content from their platforms and use proportionate systems designed to minimise the risk of users from encountering such content. Law enforcement agencies continue to work with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences such as sale of illicit substances, this includes those operating on the dark web.

Further, to support people with drug dependency who may be at risk of synthetic opioid harm, £267 million has been invested in drug and alcohol treatment this year, improving the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment services in England.

The Department is monitoring the threat that the synthetic opioids nitazenes and fentanyls pose, and is working with partners across Government to respond to this threat. Educating the drug using community of the risks these drugs pose is vital. In 2018, the Department issued Guidance for local areas on planning to deal with potent synthetic opioids, which was updated in 2023, and explains how local commissioners and service providers can prepare for and respond to incidents involving potent synthetic opioids, as well as how local areas can communicate this threat to drug users. The guidance includes specific messaging for people who use drugs, and was developed with people who use drugs. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fentanyl-preparing-for-a-future-threat/guidance-for-local-areas-on-planning-to-deal-with-fentanyl-or-another-potent-opioid

The Government has a drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce drug misuse and its harms by providing awareness to young people and to parents. Information on synthetic opioids and the danger of their misuse is available at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/synthetic-opioids

We are actively monitoring, and responding to, the continued threat posed by the growing levels of potent synthetic opioids in the United Kingdom. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities receives intelligence via its networks on reported deaths from drug misuse, including those that involve nitazenes or fentanyls. There have been 14 deaths confirmed to have involved nitazenes, and no deaths confirmed to have involved fentanyls in England in 2024, as of 25 April.

Statistics on the annual number of deaths related to drug poisoning, including those involving synthetic opioids, are reported by the Office for National Statistics, and will be published in due course.

Data on drug-related deaths registered in England and Wales are collected and reported on annually by the Office for National Statistics with the latest published data covering deaths registered in 2022. However, for surveillance purposes, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has been tracking deaths reported to it via its networks that have been confirmed to involve nitazenes or fentanyls in England since 1 June 2023. OHID has logged 64 deaths involving nitazenes and no deaths involving fentanyls between June and December 2023.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 12 December is attached.

The UK Government published its 10-year drug strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ in 2021. Within this strategy we commit to disrupting all parts of drug supply chains from production and trafficking, to disrupting the retail market and attacking the profits of organised criminal activity. The Government and partner agencies are highly alert to the risk from fentanyl.

Fentanyl is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class A drug and two fentanyl precursors, ANPP and NPP, are also controlled in the UK.

Working with law enforcement partners, we are monitoring the supply of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the UK and act decisively when they are discovered. Operationally, the NCA works closely with the Home Office, National Policing, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), and Border Force, to review the threat and ensure a rapid response to any escalation.

At the UK border, Border Force prioritises intelligence-based activity to detect all Class A drugs (including fentanyl), and works closely with the NCA to investigate and shut down distribution networks when they are identified. The NCA proactively monitors dark web sales, and has acted effectively to take down markets and vendors. Additionally, the NCA and Home Office work closely with international partners to identify, disrupt and share intelligence on the trafficking of synthetic opioids.

We have ongoing discussions with the Scottish Government on drug policy issues, including in relation to drugs such as fentanyl, to understand current threats and the opportunities for collaboration. In addition, the UK Drugs Ministerial is the forum for discussions at ministerial level between His Majesty’s Government and the devolved administrations. The next UK Drugs Ministerial is planned for the Autumn.

While fentanyl is controlled as a Class A drug across the UK through the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the Scottish Government is responsible for policies addressing drug use and drug harms in areas that are devolved, including healthcare and criminal justice.

Fentanyl and their analogues are currently included in the quarterly Border Force Transparency data under 'Other Class A' drugs.

To ensure alignment with the Seizures of drugs in England and Wales statistics, we intend to show fentanyl seizures separately in the Border Force data from the August 2023 Transparency data publication.

Any seizures of Fentanyl or Fentanyl analogues would come under other Class A drugs in the Border Force transparency data.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish annual statistics on ‘Deaths related to Drug Poisoning’ for England and Wales. The most recent update, published in August 2022, provides data up to 2021 on the number of drug-related poisonings. Data indicates a decline in fentanyl and fentanyl analogue related deaths from a peak in 2017 of 75 fentanyl-related deaths and 31 fentanyl analogue related deaths, to 58 fentanyl-related deaths and 3 fentanyl analogue related deaths in 2021. The statistics include all deaths related to fentanyl and/or fentanyl analogues, including fentanyl that has been lawfully prescribed.

The ONS provide data on Drug Misuse in England and Wales, with the most recent update published in December 2022. Specific data on the use of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues is not available.

Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues are controlled as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The penalties for supply are life imprisonment an unlimited fine, or both; and for possession these are seven years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.

A number of fentanyl-based medicines have been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and are therefore able to be sold and advertised legitimately by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors who hold a Home Office controlled drugs licence.

As part of our Drug Strategy, the Home Office is investing £300m over three years to mobilise a robust and innovative end-to-end plan which attacks the illicit supply of drugs at every stage, undermining the business of criminal drugs supply from source to street.