§ Mr. LeighTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list by department the total amount allocated to tackling problems relating to drugs for the five most recent years for which figures are available. [4798]
§ Mr. DarlingThe Treasury does not yet hold this data centrally and information on total Government and individual departments' expenditure on tackling drug misuse is not recorded on an annual basis. The Government recognises the importance of greater clarity of information relating to drugs related issues and will therefore be appointing a "drug czar" to co-ordinate action against drugs. The drug czar will he working to the President of the Council as Chair of the Cabinet's co-ordinating committee on drug misuse. One of his or her first tasks will be to review urgently the existing drugs strategy, and put forward proposals for tackling the problem with renewed vigour. This review will include evaluating current Government expenditure.
The most recently available estimates we currently hold were published in the White Paper "Tackling Drugs Together" in May 1995. They show that at least £526 million of expenditure in 1993–94 could be directly attributable to drug programmes and activities across the UK.