Drugs (Hansard, 27 May 1993)

§ Mr. Cox
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) men and (b) women were serving prison sentences at the latest available date of over three years in prisons in England and Wales for drug offences.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 26 May 1993:
The Secretary of State has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of men and women in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales serving sentences of over three years for drug offences.
The latest available provisional figures by offence and sentence length are for 31 March 1993 and cover around 80 per cent. of sentenced prison population. They show some 1,300 male and 200 female prisoners in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales recorded centrally as being sentenced to over three years for drug offences, excluding any where drugs offences were not the principal offence.

§ Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many confiscation orders were made under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 for each year from 1987; what was the total value of the assets720W ordered to be confiscated and the actual amount recovered by way of confiscation, in each of those years; and what percentage this represented of the total amount ordered to be confiscated in each year.

§ Mr. Jack
Information collected centrally is given in the tables. A direct comparison between the amount ordered to be confiscated and the amount realised cannot be made because these data are collected from two separate sources and cover calendar and financial years respectively.

Table A

Offenders ordered to pay confiscation orders under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 by amount 1987–1991 England and Wales

Year Number of orders made Total amount confiscated £

1987 203 1,177,000

1988 539 8,096,700

1989 802 7,851,900

1990 871 10,142,500

1991 1,005 6,501,500

Table B

Amount (£) recovered¹ by the Secretary of State in confiscation orders under the Drug Trafficking Offenders Act 1986 by financial year 1987–88 to 1991–92 England and Wales

Year Amount recovered £

1987–88 600,000

1988–89

1989–90 ² 1,375,200

1990–91 ² 1,448,000

1991–92 5,384,500

¹ The information collected centrally is known to be incomplete as returns were not received from all petty sessional divisions.

² There was some confusion with the recording of the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 during these two years. In consequence it is considered that data has been under-recorded for the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 and over-recorded for the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

§ Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish the research report from Sheffield university, prepared for the Home Office, on the prevalence of drug use among young people; in what form it will be published; and whether the publication will be the full report or a summary.

§ Mr. Jack
The research findings will be published in full later this year, in book form.

Table A
Offenders ordered to pay confiscation orders under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 by amount 1987–1991 England and Wales
Year	Number of orders made	Total amount confiscated £
1987	203	1,177,000
1988	539	8,096,700
1989	802	7,851,900
1990	871	10,142,500
1991	1,005	6,501,500

Table B
Amount (£) recovered¹ by the Secretary of State in confiscation orders under the Drug Trafficking Offenders Act 1986 by financial year 1987–88 to 1991–92 England and Wales
Year	Amount recovered £
1987–88	600,000
1988–89
1989–90 ²	1,375,200
1990–91 ²	1,448,000
1991–92	5,384,500
¹ The information collected centrally is known to be incomplete as returns were not received from all petty sessional divisions.
² There was some confusion with the recording of the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 during these two years. In consequence it is considered that data has been under-recorded for the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 and over-recorded for the Criminal Justice Act 1988.