HC Deb 13 March 2000 vol 346 cc95-6W
Mr. Lilley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish estimates of the quantity of illegal drugs consumed in the United Kingdom by type of drug in the last five years. [114223]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The information requested is not available. Some exploratory research on sizing the drugs market was carried out by the Office for National

Number of Persons prosecuted and cautionted for illegal possession of drugs, by class of drug and police force area, England and Wales 1998
Police force Prosecutions cautions Class A Total Prosecution Cautions Class B Total Prosecution Cautions Class C Total
England
Avon and Somerset 652 152 804 814 880 1,694 23 6 29
Bedfordshire 132 24 156 603 347 950 8 0 8
Cambridgeshire 240 27 267 580 579 1,159 21 3 24
Cheshire 661 36 697 1,328 760 2,088 34 4 38
Cleveland 354 64 418 451 614 1,065 40 7 47
Cumbria 223 100 323 673 481 1,154 14 2 16
Derbyshire 205 34 239 605 615 1,220 44 4 48
Devon and Cornwall 331 94 425 1,555 1,264 2,819 28 8 36
Dorset 217 1 218 605 289 894 12 2 14
Durham 115 3 118 409 45 454 22 0 22
Essex 309 66 375 1,167 977 2,144 17 1 18
Gloucestershire 189 77 266 427 773 1,200 3 2 5
Greater Manchester 995 291 1,286 2,485 2,620 5,105 93 4 97
Hampshire 363 28 391 2,080 1,089 3,169 27 2 29
Hertfordshire 159 46 205 654 487 1,141 7 1 8
Humberside 221 20 241 730 478 1,208 80 5 85
Kent 230 36 266 1,727 1,168 2,895 28 6 34
Lancashire 742 133 875 2,320 1,618 3,938 71 5 76
Leicestershire 203 9 212 896 511 1,407 11 0 11
Lincolnshire 139 8 147 796 378 1,174 18 2 20
Merseyside 787 198 985 2,953 2,030 4,983 21 71 92
Metropolitan Police1 3,966 1,378 5,344 10,506 15,899 26,405 83 48 131
Norfolk 227 11 238 831 439 1,270 13 0 13
Northamptonshire 157 17 174 418 535 953 4 0 4
Northumbria 357 92 449 1,990 2,100 4,090 106 22 128
North Yorkshire 321 35 356 810 406 1,216 28 5 33
Nottinghamshire 513 15 528 1,357 564 1,921 34 3 37
South Yorkshire 1,079 206 1,285 1,646 730 2,376 53 6 59
Staffordshire 613 8 621 967 711 1,678 29 4 33
Suffolk 135 45 180 631 632 1,263 9 8 17
Surrey 108 21 129 575 655 1,230 10 1 11
Sussex 305 72 377 967 842 1,809 19 6 25
Thames Valley 569 33 602 1,758 493 2,251 23 0 23
Warwickshire 72 14 86 307 357 664 4 0 4
West Mercia 295 114 409 743 1,234 1,977 7 4 11
West Midlands 1,064 202 1,266 3,683 3,002 6,685 44 7 51
West Yorkshire 2,519 288 2,807 3,618 1,289 4,907 63 4 67
Wiltshire 124 20 144 413 351 764 2 0 2
Total 19,891 4,018 23,909 55,078 48,242 103,320 1,153 253 1,406
Wales
Dyfed-Powys 252 47 299 1,256 1,025 2,281 61 4 65
Gwent 444 25 469 817 1,165 1,982 15 6 21
North Wales 229 53 282 1,002 785 1,787 10 7 17
South Wales 252 42 294 2,355 1,198 3,553 74 6 80
Total 1,177 167 1,344 5,430 4,173 9,603 160 23 183
1 Including City of London

Note:

As a person may be prosecuted or cautioned for more than one class of drug, columns for different classes of drug cannot be added together to produce sub-totals or totals

Source:

Home Office Reserch Development and Statistics Directorate

Statistics in 1998 as part of a broader European-wide project on estimating the contribution of illegal activities to national budgets. Further research has been commissioned by the Home Office to measure the size of the United Kingdom drugs market, to help support the Government's Drugs Strategy. This project should provide better information on drugs consumption. An initial report is due to be made to the Home Office by July.

Mr. Lilley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) prosecutions and (b) cautions there were for people accused of possessing drugs by (i) class of drug and (ii) police authority, in the most recent year for which figures are available. [114222]

Mr. Charles Clarke

Information on the number of prosecutions made and cautions given for illegal possession of drugs in 1998 in England and Wales, by class of drug and police force area, is given in the table.