HC Deb 21 November 2001 vol 375 cc355-7W
Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the countries from which young children up to the age of five years were allowed entry into the United Kingdom for legal adoption by citizens of the United Kingdom in the last three years. [15750]

Angela Eagle

Information on the number of children admitted to the United Kingdom from overseas countries for adoption is not currently available.

The information that is available covers the number of children up to the age of five years given indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of adoption. This number excludes those children given limited leave to remain and who are subsequently adopted through the United Kingdom courts, becoming British citizens on the date that the final adoption order is made.

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

Since the Home Office Addicts Index closed in 1997, the Regional Drug Misuse Databases (RDMDs) have been the main source of information on people presenting to drug treatment services with a drug problem. During the six month period ending 30 September 2000, around 21,200 people were reported to the RDMDs in England as presenting for treatment with heroin recorded as their main drug of misuse. Around 6,200 of these people were reported as being prescribed methadone for treatment at the time they presented; other heroin users may subsequently have been prescribed methadone.

Mr. Cameron

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his latest estimate is of the number of heroin users in the UK. [16202]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

Drug misuse databases (DMDs) are the main source of information on the number of heroin users. These databases report on the number of persons presenting to drug treatment services. Data are not available for the whole of the United Kingdom, but separate figures for Great Britain and Northern Ireland are provided here. In addition, the British Crime Survey (BCS) 2000 calculated a population estimate for 16 to 24-year-old heroin users in England and Wales. There has also been a recent research report published by academics that estimates the number of problematic opiate users in the United Kingdom.

The table provides a summary of estimates from different parts of the United Kingdom by various methods.

A total of around 20 adopted children up to the age of five were given indefinite leave to remain in 2000. The corresponding totals for 1999 and 1998 were 10 and 20 respectively. The nationalities of the children were:

  • Brazil
  • Chile
  • China
  • Guatemala
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Jamaica
  • Kenya
  • Lebanon
  • Nigeria
  • Pakistan
  • St. Lucia
    • 357W
  • South Africa
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Ukraine
  • United States of America
  • Vietnam
  • Zimbabwe.

There were fewer than 10 cases for each nationality.

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