§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of 261W the proportion of indictable offences which fall into the category of drug related offences in the most recent period for which figures are available; [85764]
(2) what proportion of indictable offences were the result of drug related offending in the most recent period for which figures are available. [85767]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe information requested on the proportion of indictable offences being drug-related is not available for the country as a whole. As I stated in my reply on 27 April 1999,Official Report, column 110, a report was published last year on preliminary research carried out on behalf of the Home Office by the University of Cambridge, which shed light on the links between drugs and crime. Further work is currently being conducted within this programme. The results will be published later this year. This additional work is intended to pave the way for a larger, regular programme.
The research undertaken so far on drug testing of arrestees, based in five locations, indicates that over 60 per cent. of arrestees had recently taken at least one illegal drug prior to arrest. Cannabis was found most often (46 per cent. of cases); heroin/opiates (18 per cent.) and cocaine/crack (10 per cent.) featured quite prominently. These findings confirm the supposition that offenders tend to be heavy consumers of drugs.
Nearly half the arrestees who reported taking drugs within the last year said that their drug misuse was connected with their offending. Among various factors, they emphasised the need for the money to buy drugs. The illegal income of arrestees who said that they had taken heroin and/or crack cocaine during the last three days was particularly high—within a range of £10,000 to £20,000 annually. This compared with £4,000 for other arrestees. Illegal income mainly resulted from acquisitive crimes against property. An estimated 32 per cent. of all illegal income was spent on purchasing heroin and/or crack cocaine.
Whilst this study considerably advances knowledge of drugs-crime links, it will always be difficult to calculate a single percentage figure reflecting precisely what proportion of all crime is drug-related.
Figures on drug offences in 1997 were recently published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin No. 8/99, "Drug seizure and offender statistics, United Kingdom, 1997", copies of which are available in the Library.