§ Lord Melchettasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state for each of the last five years for which figures are available what percentages of substances sent for forensic analysis by the police because they were thought to be controlled drugs proved, on analysis, not to be controlled drugs.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Belstead)Information covering the last five years could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by examination of an estimated 96,000 case files. The limited information available centrally relates to 1981 and shows that, of the 22,000 drugs cases dealt with by the Home Office and Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratories in that year, 15 per cent. involved no controlled drug.