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Property Crime

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the proportion of property crime related to the need of the perpetrator to support illegal drug use in each of the last five years. [98174]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences, such as possession, and on acquisitive crimes, such as burglary, but do not record whether the latter are related to an offender's drug habits.

However, the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, which involves interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police, confirms a link between drug misuse and acquisitive crime, including property crimes. Analysis of the data from the first eight sites in the survey, collected during 1999–2000, shows that 65 per cent. of arrestees provided a urine sample that tested positive for one or more illegal drug. The

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analysis also shows that up to 29 per cent. of arrestees tested positive for opiates (including heroin) and/or cocaine (including crack).

As a guide to the proportion of crime that is drug-related, analysis of the NEW-ADAM self-report data indicates that while only 21 per cent. of non-drug using arrestees reported having previously offended in the past 12 months, this figure rises to 75 per cent. for those arrestees who use heroin and/or cocaine/crack. Moreover, while users of both heroin and cocaine/crack represented just under one-quarter of all arrestees interviewed, they were responsible for more than three-fifths of all the illegal income reported.

In support of this, 55 per cent. of arrestees who reported using one or more drugs in the last 12 months and committing one or more acquisitive crimes, acknowledged a link between their drug use and their offending behaviour. This proportion rose to 78 per cent. for arrestees who said they had used heroin and cocaine/crack.

Recidivism

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the relationship between Class A drug addiction and recidivism among criminal offenders. [98138]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Information is not available in the form requested. However, the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring research programme, which involves interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police at 16 sites throughout England and Wales, currently provides estimates of repeat offending by drug misusing offenders. Repeat offending drug misusing offenders are defined as the proportion of arrestees who are using heroin and/or cocaine and/or crack at least once a week and who have offended at least twice a month in the last 12 months. Analysis of the data from the first eight sites in the survey, collected during 1999–2000, shows the proportion of arrestees falling within the definition of repeat offending drug misusing offenders category was 15 per cent.

Refuge Provision (Capital Funding)

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what revenue funding will be provided to match the capital funding for new refuge provision announced on 11 December 2002. [98010]

Mr. McNulty: I have been asked to reply.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced on 11 December 2002 that it was making available £7 million to the Housing Corporation to increase safe accommodation choices for women and children. This capital funding will be allocated to local authority areas where provision for victims of domestic violence is identified as an unmet need in a homelessness or Supporting People strategy. The Supporting People programme, which will go live on 1 April 2003, will provide revenue funding for housing related support services for vulnerable people, which may include support for victims of domestic violence. In addition, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be making available £70 million in revenue support for local

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authorities and voluntary sector organisations in 2003–04 to support their work to tackle and prevent homelessness. These resources can be used to fund support services for victims of domestic violence if this is a priority within a local authority's homelessness strategy.

Terrorist Attacks

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been taken to ensure the integration of (a) planning and (b) communications between (i) the armed forces, (ii) the emergency services and (iii) volunteer organisations in the event of an NBC terrorist attack in the United Kingdom. [96254]

Mr. Blunkett: I chair three Cabinet Committees, which plan the prevention and response to terrorist attack. DOP(IT)(T) which oversees work to strengthen the United Kingdom's defence against terrorism; DOP(IT)(R) which works to build the United Kingdom's resilience and ability to manage the consequences of major emergencies; and the Civil Contingencies Committee which meets in times of crisis to manage the response. Key Government Departments and representatives of the relevant emergency services and agencies, attend these committees. The devolved Administrations are also involved in these committees. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing, Crime Reduction and Community Safety, was given the responsibility, on my behalf, for Chemical Biological

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Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) co-ordination in 2001 and a dedicated team of officials at the Home Office supports him in this work.

The integration of volunteer organisations in response to civil emergencies of all kinds is co-ordinated through local authority emergency planning officers in accordance with the arrangements set out in the publication "Dealing with Disaster".

We are continually learning and developing the best way to protect the United Kingdom from terrorism and to manage the consequences of terrorism, in whatever form it comes. However the Government does not give detailed information on CBRN capabilities, as this information could be useful to terrorists.

Treatment Orders

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many treatment orders have been given to people with alcoholism in each of the last five years. [98175]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Powers to impose a drug and/or alcohol treatment requirement, as part of a community rehabilitation order or a community punishment and rehabilitation order, were contained in the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973, now the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. However, statistics for this do not differentiate between alcohol and drugs.

The table gives figures for the numbers starting community rehabilitation orders and community punishment and rehabilitation orders that contain a drug and/or alcohol element for the years 1997 to 2001.

Persons starting probation service supervision by year: community rehabilitation orders⁽¹⁴⁾ with drug/alcohol treatment imposed under the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000⁽¹⁵⁾, in England and Wales 1997 to 2001⁽¹⁶⁾

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Residential drugs/alcohol treatment	346	299	276	236	192
Non-residential drugs/alcohol treatment	1,039	1,394	1,590	1,795	1,133
Drugs/alcohol treatment by/under qualified medical person	631	843	1,131	1,101	793
Total drug/alcohol treatment	2,016	2,536	2,997	3,132	2,118

⁽¹⁴⁾ Community rehabilitation order is the new name for a probation order under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.

⁽¹⁵⁾ For 1997 to 2000 this was under the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973.

⁽¹⁶⁾ In compiling probation statistics, each person is counted only once in the total even if several types of additional requirement started in the year. For this reason, the figures quoted above may slightly undercount those undergoing alcohol/drugs treatment.

Note:

1. From October 2000, when the Drug Treatment and Testing Order was rolled-out to courts in England and Wales, the power to attach a drug treatment requirement to a community rehabilitation order or community rehabilitation and punishment order was removed. This explains the lower total figures for drug/alcohol treatment requirements in 2001.

2. It should be noted that these figures represent those starting orders in the respective years, rather than orders made by the courts in each of these years.

Source:

Probation Statistics England and Wales, 2001. Table 3.12 (a) and (b).

Persons starting probation service supervision by year: community rehabilitation and punishment orders⁽¹⁷⁾ with drug/alcohol treatment imposed under the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000⁽¹⁸⁾, in England and Wales 1997 to 2001⁽¹⁹⁾

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Residential drugs/alcohol treatment	4	5	3	1	6
Non-residential drugs/alcohol treatment	165	238	238	175	143
Drugs/alcohol treatment by/under qualified medical person	92	105	110	131	71
Total drug/alcohol treatment	261	348	351	307	220

⁽¹⁷⁾ Community rehabilitation and punishment order is the new name for Combination Order under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.

⁽¹⁸⁾ For 1997 to 2000 this was under the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973.

⁽¹⁹⁾ In compiling probation statistics, each person is counted only once in the total, even if several types of additional requirement started in the year. For this reason, the figures quoted above may slightly un dercount those undergoing alcohol/drugs treatment.

Note:

1. From October 2000, when the Drug Treatment and Testing Order was rolled-out to courts in England and Wales, the power to attach a drug treatment requirement to a community rehabilitation order or community rehabilitation and punishment order was removed. This explains the lower total figures for drug/alcohol treatment requirements in 2001.

2. It should be noted that these figures represent those starting orders in the respective years, rather than orders made by the courts in each of these years.

Source:

Probation Statistics England and Wales, 2001. Table 3.12 (a) and (b).

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