§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the number of crimes committed that were alcohol related and their cost in each of the last five years. [67019]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthPrecise information on this subject is not available except where intoxication is an element of the definition of the offence (as with driving while intoxicated). The term alcohol-related crime potentially covers any criminal act where the perpetrator may have been drinking alcohol prior to, or at the time of, the offence. While the relevant offence may be recorded, there is at present no requirement on police forces to record whether or not the offender had been drinking.
223WWe know from the British Crime Survey that about 40 per cent. of all violent crime is alcohol-related, that is where the victim considers that the offender had been drinking prior to the commission of the offence. But victims are less able to make such an assessment where the offence does not involve direct contact with the offender.
The suite of Best Value Performance Indicators for the police for 2002–03 will provide a more consistent measure of alcohol-related violence across all police forces in England and Wales, by including both a measure of violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises and a measure of violent offences committed under the influence of an intoxicating substance.
The Government is determined to tackle the range of problems that arise from alcohol misuse, including alcohol-related crime and disorder. This includes tackling under-age drinking, recognising that young people are generally less likely than adults to differentiate between legal and illegal substances. As part of the response to this, each Drug Action Team has now drawn up a Young People's Substance Misuse Plan detailing how education, prevention and treatment activities for drugs and alcohol will be expanded according to local needs and integrated within wider provision for children and young people.