HC Deb 19 July 2002 vol 389 cc667-9W
Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what he estimates to be the social and economic costs in the most recent year for which figures are available of illegal drugs in(a) Wales and (b) Lancashire. [70322]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

The University of York, Centre for Criminal Justice Economics & Psychology (Culyer A., Eaton G., Godfrey C.et al., 2002) has recently completed a research report for the Home Office entitled "The Economic and Social Costs of Class A Drugs Misuse in England and Wales, 2000". The report will be published as a Home Office Research Study (HORS) Autumn 2002, but does not include any country or regional breakdown of costs.

Mr. Stinchcombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has collated of links between(a) acquisitive and (b) violent crime and the use of (i) cannabis, (ii) amphetamines, (iii) LSD, (iv) cocaine, (v) ecstasy, (vi) heroin and (vii) crack. [66664]

Numbers of persons convicted of Class A and Class B drug offences in England 1993–2000, by region, showing Leeds separately
Region 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Persons convicted of offences involving(1) Class A(2) drugs
East 234 233 363 513 620 790 892 945
East Midlands 189 203 254 316 479 615 821 1,034
London 1,598 1,963 2,076 2,125 2,184 3,043 3,651 3,435
North East 174 152 167 238 328 421 538 853
North West 867 1,021 1,319 1,636 1,902 2,003 2,071 2,125
South East 374 445 622 675 857 1,199 1,508 1,702
South West 296 345 603 659 814 845 1,070 1,192
West Midlands(3) 270 281 404 552 827 992 1,177 1,537
Yorkshire and the Humber 472 528 778 1,226 1,755 1,983 2,209 2,214
Of which:
Leeds Petty Sessional Area(4) 81 72 169 220 341 431 486 416
Total England 4,474 5,171 6,586 7,940 9,766 11,891 13,937 15,037
Persons convicted of offences involving(1) Class B(2) drugs
East 1,231 1,643 2,037 2,142 2,593 2,778 2,669 2,084
East Midlands 954 1,247 1,462 1,574 1,937 2,163 1,832 1,546
London 3,267 4,922 4,345 4,267 5,137 6,673 6,279 5,366
North East 648 721 814 1,019 1.132 1,703 1,924 1,872
North West 2,850 3,356 3,886 3,905 4,558 5,493 5,046 4,235
South East 1,836 2,600 3,095 3,119 3,533 4,680 4,379 3,571
South West(3) 1,081 1,389 1,674 1,671 1,854 2,348 2,333 2,038
West Midlands 1,082 1,365 1,626 1,707 2,335 2,876 2,620 2,457

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

No statistical data are collected on offences that may have been committed due to specific drug taking. However, the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research published between 1998 and 2001 sheds some light on the links between drugs and acquisitive crime. The research is insufficiently advanced to reveal the precise links between drugs and violent crime.

What the most recently published research does indicate is that users of both heroin and cocaine/crack (just under a quarter of the arrestees interviewed) are responsible for more than 60 per cent of the illegal income reported. Furthermore, 53 per cent of the arrestees reported having committed one or more acquisitive crimes in the last year. This increased to 62 per cent of those who had used any drug in the past 12 months, and 75 per cent of those who had used heroin and/or cocaine/crack in the last year. The latter group reported an average of 432 acquisitive crimes in the year—nearly 10 times the rate for non-drug-users. Therefore, drug use in general, and especially use of heroin and/or cocaine/crack, is associated with higher levels of crime.

There is little evidence of any strong links between acquisitive or violent crime and cannabis, amphetamine, ecstasy or LSD use.

Mr. Challen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of(a) class A and (b) class B drug offences in (i) Leeds and (ii) each of the English regions in the past 10 years. [69953]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

The information requested, relating to persons convicted for(a) Class A and (b) Class B drug offences in Leeds and the English regions for the years 1993 to 2000 is shown in the table.

A breakdown between the different classes of drug was not collected centrally prior to 1993. Statistics for 2001 will be available in the Autumn.

Numbers of persons convicted of Class A and Class B drug offences in England 1993–2000, by region, showing Leeds separately
Region 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Yorkshire and the Humber 1,629 1,922 2,326 2,476 3,003 3,654 3,318 2,637
Of which:
Leeds Petty Sessional Area(4) 326 349 514 463 570 684 481 396
Total England 14,578 19,165 21,265 21,880 26,082 32,368 30,400 25,806

(1) Trafficking, production, supply, possession etc.

(2) Excludes a small number of offences where the type of drug is unknown.

(3) Staffordshire Police were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis.

(4) Also includes convictions at the Crown Court where Leeds was the committing Magistrates' court

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