§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the degree of correlation between the level of law enforcement on the possession and use of illegal drugs and the overall level of availability of illegal drugs in the United Kingdom since the appointment of the Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator. [79333]
§ Mr. George HowarthI have been asked to reply.
Such a simple correlation is not possible as there are many factors, other than the level of law enforcement, which could impact on the availability of illegal drugs on our streets. Furthermore, although statistics are collected on the number and weight of seizures of illicit drugs, we have no measure at present of the overall size of the drugs market, or the percentage of illegal drugs seized, which would allow comparisons to be made.
A methodology is being developed to measure the key corporate objective under the availability aim of the Drugs Strategy to reduce access to drugs among young people. It is intended to provide a better understanding of the impact of law enforcement measures on the availability of drugs in the United Kingdom.