HC Deb 05 November 1987 vol 121 cc876-7W
Mr. McAllion

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of the number of convictions for (a) drug misuse and (b) drug trafficking in the Dundee area for each year since 1979; and what are the corresponding figures for the rest of Scotland.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The information available is given in the table.

Persons with a charge proved
Dundee Rest of Scotland
All drugs offences Supplying, possession with intent to supply All drugs offences Supplying, possession with intent to supply
1979 73 na 1,077 na
1980 57 na 1,098 na
1981 64 na 918 na
1982 81 na 1,292 na
1983 94 na 1,577 na
1984 96 na 2,175 na
1985 78 10 2,582 224
1986 85 10 2,572 259
na=Not available. Prior to 1985, offences of supplying and possession with intent to supply were not separately identifiable from other drugs offences in the Scottish Home and Health Department classification of crimes and offences.

Mr. McAllion

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of the funding of treatment and rehabilitation facilities for drug misuses for each health board area in Scotland.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

NHS services for drug misusers are generally provided as part of the usual range of community and hospital-based services. The Government have made substantial increases in resources available to health boards since 1979 and it is for individual health boards to determine the level of expenditure on particular services from within their overall financial allocations.

In 1984 and 1985 in addition the Government provided funds to establish a range of local drug projects run by health boards, local authorities and voluntary bodies in places where drug misuse was prevalent. The support of these projects was the responsibility of the Scottish Office until April this year when this responsibility was devolved to the relevant health boards. The Government recently announced that a further £300,000 per annum was being made available, making the total allocation of funds to individual health boards for 1987–88 specifically for the support of local drug projects as follows:

£
Greater Glasgow 415,035
Lothian 285,980
Tayside 78,900
Ayrshire and Arran 29,400
Lanarkshire 13,600