§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list each prison where there have been no incidents of illegal drug use in each of the past seven years;
(2) in how many prisons there have been incidents of illegal drug use in each of the past seven years; and what proportion they are of the total numbers of prisons.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 21 March 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General, Mr. Derek Lewis, from the office, to reply to your two Parliamentary Questions about incidents of illegal drug use in each of the past seven years in Prison Service establishments.The available information is for the period up to 1992 and for charges proved at adjudication of the offence of possession or selling or delivering controlled drugs (including any proved charges of attempt, incite or assist). This information is published annually for each establishment in Statistics of Offences Against Prison Discipline and Punishments England and Wales. Copies are available in the library of the House of Commons. In each of the years 1986 to 1992 some 80 per cent. to 90 per cent. of establishments have had one or more cases of drugs offences.