§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people in(a) Doncaster and (b) South Yorkshire convicted of drug offences in each year for the past four years were under 21 years of age;
(2) how many people in (a) Doncaster and (b) South Yorkshire have been convicted of drug offences in each year for the past four years.
129W
§ Mr. MacleanThe information is given in the table. The 1993 data will not be available until autumn 1994.
Number and percentage of persons convicted of indictable drug offences at Doncaster Petty Sessional Division1 and South Yorkshire Police Force Area and England and Wales 1989 to 1992 Doncaster1 South Yorkshire England and Wales Year/Age Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent. 1989 Under 21 16 17 33 14 5,014 22 All ages 92 100 233 100 22,578 100 1990 Under 21 22 25 56 22 6,298 26 All ages 87 100 252 100 24,558 100 1991 Under 21 26 28 84 25 6,251 27 All ages 92 100 339 100 23,455 100 1992 Under 21 47 26 156 29 5,772 25 All ages 181 100 539 100 22,677 100 1 Includes cases heard at the Crown Court where the committing court was Doncaster psd.
§ Mr. Robert BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juveniles were cautioned for drug-related offences in north Yorkshire in each year since 1990.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information is given in the table. The 1993 data will not be available until autumn 1994.
Number of juveniles—persons aged 10 to under 17 years—cautioned for indictable drug offences in North Yorkshire Police Force Area 1990–1992 Year Juveniles aged10 to under 17 Persons All ages 1990 3 49 1991 26 140 1992 41 266
§ Mr. Robert BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department is currently conducting into drug usage and drugs prevention in rural areas.
§ Mr. MacleanI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Spring) on 15 March,Official Report, column 597. In addition to the telephone survey in Greater Manchester and its rural hinterland, information about self-reported drug misuse by people living in rural areas was collected in the 1992 British crime survey. Work is in hand to compare the data for inner-city, other urban and rural areas, which will be reported on in due course.
My Department has also part-funded some locally managed research in rural east Sussex, the results of which were published in a report by Dr. Russell Newcombe "Drug Use in the North Wealden District of East Sussex: A report on the investigation of the nature and prevalence of illicit drug use among young people in a rural area of East Sussex in 1993", available from the East Sussex Drugs Advisory Council; and is funding a Somerset county youth service project which involves, among other things, research to estimate the prevalence of drug misuse among the local population and the transient population of young holiday-makers and to develop primary preventive work in response.
130W