§ Mr. McTaggartasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report the police forces in Scotland which have set up special drug squads.
§ Mr. AncramOf the eight police forces in Scotland, Grampian, Lothian and Borders, Northern, Strathclyde and Tayside have drug squads. Fife constabulary is in the process of establishing a squad and in the remaining two forces — Dumfries and Galloway and Central — designated officers are responsible for collating and disseminating intelligence on drugs matters.
§ Mr. McTaggartasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report the numbers of charges preferred under the Misuse of Drugs Act by each police force in Scotland in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. AncramThe information is not available in the precise form requested. The table shows the number of drugs offences cleared up by the police for the years 1979 to 1983. The classification of crimes and offences used by my Department does not separately identify the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 but includes in the relevant category various other statutes dealing with misuse of drugs.
Drugs offences cleared up by the police. 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Central 38 55 61 74 118 Dumfries and Galloway 25 31 32 32 23 Fife 55 44 53 50 66 Grampian 126 105 123 239 222 Lothian and Borders 181 256 220 631 709 Northern 98 111 121 160 199 Strathclyde 892 655 875 1,072 1,536 Tayside 131 170 125 246 331 Scotland 1,546 1,427 1,610 2,504 3,204