Heroin (Hansard, 24 July 2002)

§ John Mann
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what method his Department uses to estimate the level of availability of heroin on the streets. [71397]

§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth
Heroin availability can be defined and measured in a variety of ways. The clandestine nature of drugs supply and consumption also mean that definitive figures on heroin availability are not possible. However, the Home Office has produced figures on the size of the United Kingdom (UK) heroin market.
The method for producing these figures draws on general population surveys, and on the urine testing and surveying of arrestees in police custody. These allow estimates to be produced on the total number of regular heroin users, frequency of heroin consumption and level of consumption. A figure can then be calculated for total amount of heroin consumed and therefore an overall estimate for the value of the UK heroin market.
A more detailed outline of the above method and the estimates produced can be found in "Sizing the UK Market for Illicit Drugs" (Home Office Research Development Statistics Occasional Paper No 74. 2001). A copy of this report has been placed in the Library and is available on www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html.

§ John Mann
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of heroin-using offenders in(a) England, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Bassetlaw re-offended in the last 12 months. [71395]

§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth
Information on the proportion of heroin-using offenders re-offending is not held at the detailed level requested.
Numbers of prisoners in England and Wales re-convicted, by offence for which originally convicted and offence on first reconviction, within two years of discharge from prison in 1997 are contained in Table 9.8 of "Prison statistics England and Wales 2000".
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Details of level of illegal income by type of drug, and self reported crime by type of drug are reported in Chapters 7 and 8 of Home Office Research Study 205 "Drugs and crime: The results of the second developmental stage of the New England and Wales Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme". This study reports outcomes from pilot sites (including Nottingham) participating in the NEW-ADAM Programme.
Copies of these documents are available in the Library.