Sussex Police (Hansard, 10 January 2002)

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what funding has been made available to Sussex police specifically to combat drugs; [25762]
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(2) what additional funds he is making available to the Sussex constabulary to deal with crack cocaine; [25765]

§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth
Within the police force grant, there is not a ring-fenced allocation for tackling the misuse of drugs. Neither is there additional money allocated for dealing with crack cocaine specifically.
In the year 2001–02, central funding was made available to the Sussex constabulary for specific drug-related programmes. This comprised £258,400 from the Crime Reduction Programme to deliver and maintain drug Arrest Referral schemes, and slightly in excess of £1 million from the Communities Against Drugs (CAD) programme, which can be used for more CCTV, funding for crime stopper schemes and working with pharmacists, to tackle drug-related crime at a community level

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his assessment is of the increase in the use of crack cocaine in the Sussex constabulary area in the last five years. [25764]

§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth
The information is not available in the form requested. The British Crime Survey (BCS) asks a representative sample of 16 to 59-year-olds (sample size of 13,300 individuals in 2000) about their drug use in the last year. The percentage who report using crack was 0.3 per cent. in 2000. Because of the small sample size and the low prevalence of reported crack use it would be unreliable to try to provide estimates for the numbers of crack users for small geographical areas, eg police force areas. Our best estimate of the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who used crack in the last year nationally is 50,000.
Again nationally, the BCS suggests that there has been a significant increase in crack use between 1996 and 2000. In 1996 0.1 per cent. of 16 to 59-year-olds reported using crack in the last year, but by 2000 this had increased to 0.3 per cent. The same figures for 16 to 29-year-olds show an increase from 0.2 per cent. to 0.8 per cent. of the age group.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of arrests have been made by Sussex police in the last year for drug offences. [25763]

§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth
The Home Office Statistical Bulletin 19/01 "Arrests for Notifiable Offences and the Operation of Certain Police Powers under PACE, England and Wales 2000/01" shows that 6 per cent. of the total persons arrested for notifiable offences by the Sussex constabulary were for drug offences.