§ 56 Mr. Wrayasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the latest figures for drug abuse increase in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythIn Scotland in 1986, 616 new addicts were notified by medical practitioners to the Home Office and 348 former addicts were re-notified. In the same year there were 3,437 seizures of controlled drugs by the police and HM Customs and Excise in Scotland and 5,318 drugs offences were recorded by the police.
There were increases in the total number of seizures and in the number of drugs offences recorded compared to 1985 but the rates of increase were lower than in the previous year. The total number of addicts notified in 1986 decreased by 12.5 per cent. compared to 1985 when there was a 51 per cent. increase over 1984.
These statistics are not an accurate measure of the extent of drug misuse but may serve as indicators of general trends. These and other indicators suggest that the
European countries' stock by tenure percentages Rented stock Owner occupied All Public sector Housing associations Private sector Scotland 1986 42 58 49 2 6 United Kingdom 1986 63 37 27 3 8 Belgium 1981 61 39 57 5— 532 Denmark 1980 55 45 4 16 25 France1 1982 51 49 13 — 36 Germany, Federal Republic2 1982 40 60 3 14 43 Greece3 1982 72 28 4 4 4 Ireland, Republic of 1981 74 26 13 — 13 Italy2 1981 59 41 4 4 4 Luxembourg3 1981 60 40 4 4 4 Netherlands 1981 43 57 12 30 14 Portugal 1981 56 44 3 — 41 Spain 1980 77 23 2 1 20 Austria1 1981 50 50 4 4 4 Switzerland 1980 30 70 3 4 4 Finland 1980 68 32 4 4 4 Sweden 1980 58 42 523 5— 519 Norway 1980 74 26 4 4 4 1 Occupied main residences—Owner occupied: includes condominiums and co-operatives of similar nature. 2 Main residences. 3 Households—Rented: includes tied and rent free accommodation. 4 Not known—Housing associations: organisations broadly similar to those in Britain. 5 Approximate estimate. All figures including totals have been individually rounded.
§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make and publish a detailed analysis of waiting lists for public sector houses in each district and island area in order to ascertain whether there are enough suitable houses available to let to meet local needs.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonA two-year research project, to assess the extent to which waiting lists can be used as an indication of housing need, was announced by the Government in December 1986.