§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are principally deployed on drugs work in each police force and regional crime squad, and what was the comparable number in 1979.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information for police forces, as at 31 December 1988, and for regional crime squads, as at 31 January 1989 is set out in the table. Information on deployment in 1979 is not held centrally.
1066W
Police officers deployed in police force drugs squads and regional crime squads drugs wings Police force drugs squads as at 31 December 1988 Numbers Avon and Somerset 27 Bedfordshire 11 Cambridgeshire 11 Cheshire 17 Cleveland 11 Cumbria 9 Derbyshire 13 Devon and Cornwall 24 Dorset 20 Durham 8 Dyfed-Powys 14 Essex 13 Gloucestershire 13
Numbers Greater Manchester 34 Gwent 7 Hampshire 26 Hertfordshire 11 Humberside 22 Kent 27 Lancashire 38 Leicestershire 17 Lincolnshire 9 Merseyside 40 Norfolk 15 Northamptonshire 11 Northumbria 16 North Wales 10 North Yorkshire 10 Nottinghamshire 13 South Wales 24 South Yorkshire 26 Staffodshire 11 Suffolk 16 Surrey 11 Sussex 22 Thames Valley 24 Warwickshire 27 West Mercia 34 West Midlands 52 West Yorkshire 42 Wiltshire 7 City of London1 0 Metropolitan 220 1 City of London do not have a drugs squad. Drugs investigations are undertaken by CID officers.
Regional crime squads drugs ings as at 31 January 1989 Numbers No. 1 squad 42 No. 2 squad 27 No. 3 squad 27 No. 4 squad 40 No. 5 squad 27 No. 6 squad 27 No. 7 squad 27 No. 8 squad 14
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's estimate of the current number of drug users and the equivalent figure For each preceding year for which such estimates have been made.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, in its report "Aids and Drug Misuse Part 1" (page 13) pointed to the difficulties—inherent in the clandestine nature of drug misuse—in obtaining a reliable estimate of the number of drug misusers. Its best guess was that in 1986 there might have been between 75,000 and 150,000 misusers of notifiable drugs (essentially the most powerful narcotics and cocaine), plus perhaps as many again (excluding cannabis users) who were using non-notifiable drugs (such as amphetamine). Those figures remain the current broad estimate of the prevalence of drug misuse in England, Scotland and Wales.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of prosecutions for drug offences in 1979 and each succeeding year.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation held centrally for 1979 to 1987 is given in the table. Data for 1988 are not yet available.
1067W
Number of prosecutions for Drug Offences 1979 to 1987 England and Wales Numbers 1979 12,627 1980 16,030 1981 16,235 1982 18,187 1983 20,305 1984 20,399 1985 21,448 1986 18,276 1987 18,757
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of registered drug addicts in 1979 and each succeeding year.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation on the total number of addicts notified to the Home Office in the years 1979 to 1988 is published in table 1 of Home Office statistical bulletin issue 13/89, "Statistics of Drug Addicts Notified to the Home Office, United Kingdom, 1988", a copy of which is in the Library.