§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 10 December,Official Report, column 148, if he will identify the substances covered by the Intoxicating Substances (Supply) Act 1985 and the number of prosecutions that have taken place in each of the last five years providing a regional breakdown where available. [10224]
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Act covers the supply of any substance which is likely to be inhaled for the purpose of causing intoxication; no particular substances are specified. But the compounds and products commonly associated with volatile substance abuse are listed in annexes D and E of the 1995 report of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on volatile substance abuse, a copy of which is in the Library.
The number of prosecutions for offences under the Act by region, in the last five years for which figures are available, were as follows:
Region 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 Totals North — 1 — 1 2 4 Yorkshire and Humberside — — — — 1 1 East Midlands — — — — — — North West — 1 2 1 1 5 West Midlands — 4 — 2 1 7 East Anglia 1 — — — — 1 South West 1 — 1 — — 2 South East — 1 — 1 — 2 Wales 1 — 2 — 3 6 England and Wales 3 7 5 5 8 28