The Home Office added an overarching factsheet on 18 May after the legislation was approved in April. It includes a harmful-substance offence among measures addressing violence against women and girls.
Why this matters
Section 134 changes provisions of the 1861 legislation and provides for up to ten years’ imprisonment on conviction on indictment. Its territorial scope covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish law requires separate consideration rather than assuming identical rules throughout the UK.
Context matters
Enacting legislation and bringing individual provisions into force are different steps. Section 255 makes commencement of this measure dependent on subsequent decisions; the factsheet alone does not establish that it operated from the date of approval.
The date refers to the linked original publication. This summary preserves the context at that date.
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