§ Mr. FlynnTo ask Secretary of State for the Home Department what new proposals he has to improve the accuracy of illegal drug use statistics. [2466]
§ Mr. Sackville[holding answer 5 November 1996]: Information on drug seizure and offenders, collected from police and customs, and statistics of drug addicts notified to the Home Office are published annually. The accuracy of drug seizure statistics is being continually improved by, for example, direct collection of figures from regional crime squads and automatic data interchange from police forces. Dug offender figures will also be collected by ADI via the court appearances system.
Probation Service Revenue Expenditure 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 National Provision (i) Real terms £274.5 million £276.7 million £312.1 million £318.7 million £332.8 million £321.9 million £323.7 million (ii) Per cent. change (year on year) — +0.8 per cent. +12.8 per cent. +2.1 per cent. +4.4 per cent. -3.3 per cent. +0.6 per cent. West Midlands Provision i. Real terms £17.6 million £19.5 million £20.1 million £20.5 million £21.3 million £20.6 million £21.3 million ii. Per cent. change (year on year) — +10.8 per cent. +3.1 per cent. +2.0 per cent. +3.9 per cent. -3.3 per cent. +3.4 per cent.
- 1. Figures are in 100 per cent. expenditure terms (ie including the 20 per cent. local authority contribution).
- 2. Real-terms values are calculated using the gross domestic product deflator, with 1990–91 as the base year.
- 3. To permit comparison, figures for 1995–96 and 1996–97 exclude devolved funding to support probation service partnerships with the independent sector previously funded separately by the Home Office.