§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a table showing for each police area in England and Wales for each year since the power was introduced(a) the number of applications for an order for the confiscation of the assets of drug traffickers, (b) the number of applications approved and (c) the value of assets seized in that year.
§ Mr. JackInformation is not available by police area, nor in the form requested at(a). As regards (b), details of the confiscation orders made under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 between 1987 and 1990 are given in the table.
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Offenders ordered to pay confiscation orders under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 by amount1 England and Wales Offenders sentenced at Crown Court for drug trafficking 1987 1988 1989 1990 Total2 3,372 3,231 3,665 3,713 No order made 3,169 2,692 2,863 2,842 Under £1,000 135 339 528 568 £1,000 and under £3,000 39 98 133 149 3,000 and under £10,000 15 47 81 77 £10,000 and under £30,000 8 18 36 48 £30,000 and under £100,000 — 8 14 13 £100,000 and under £300,000 6 21 7 10 £300,000 and under £1 million — 8 1 4 £1 million and over — — 2 2 Total amount ordered to be confiscated (£) 1,177,000 8,096,700 7,851,900 10,142,500 1 Source—"Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1990" Cm. 1935. 2 Excludes offenders committed for sentence or where the sentence could have been awarded at the magistrates' court. As regards (c), the amount of money actually realised was £1.1 million in 1989–90 and £1.45 million in 1990–91. Recent estimates show that a cumulative total of £35 million had been ordered to be confiscated under the 1986 Act up to May 1992, of which £15 million has either been realised or is subject to receivership. I would also refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for South Hams (Mr. Steen) on 20 October, Official Report, columns 262–63.