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Drug Treatment

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug treatment and testing orders have been made in (a) Derbyshire and (b) Amber Valley since they were introduced. [108734]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Between 1 October 2000 when the order was first rolled out to all courts in England and Wales and 28 February 2003 (which is the latest month for which figures are available) 303 Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) were made in Derbyshire. Separate DTTO figures for Amber Valley are not held centrally.

Drug-related Crimes

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to ensure effective treatment for offenders whose crimes are drug-related. [109296]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Research shows that appropriate treatment can reduce both drug use and offending. To get more offenders into treatment, the Government is developing a range of interventions at every appropriate stage in the criminal justice system, which provides opportunities to identify and engage with drug misusing offenders and helps them gain access to appropriate treatment.

This programme will build on and expand existing interventions such as the Drug Treatment Testing Order (DTTO), a community sentence which has been available to courts in England and Wales since October 2000 following successful piloting in three areas, and arrest referral schemes. It will also introduce drug testing, initially into the 30 Basic Command Units (BCUs) with the highest levels of acquisitive crime, and develop throughcare and aftercare arrangements aimed at case managing offenders.

At the same time, we are expanding our treatment provision to make it more accessible to all that need it, when they need it, which is essential to the success of the Government's National Drug Strategy as a whole. The

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Pooled Treatment Budget funding will increase from £191 million in 2002–03 to £236 million in 2003–04 rising to £299 million in 2005–06.

The main treatment target is to increase the participation of problem drug users in drug treatment programmes by 55 per cent. by 2004 and by 100 per cent. by 2008, and to increase the proportion of users successfully sustaining or completing treatment programmes year on year.

Energy Policy

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement, in relation to his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible, on (a) the amount of energy consumed, (b) spending on (i) energy and (ii) energy efficiency measures, (c) the amount saved through energy efficiency measures and (d) energy policy in each of the last five years. [108859]

Beverley Hughes: The information held centrally on energy consumption and expenditure by the Home Office is given in the table:

Main Home Office

Year	Energy consumption (GWh/y)	Energy expenditure (£/y)	Energy/m2 (kWh/m2/y)	Savings over 1997–8 (percentage)
1997–98	73.27	1,792,543	392.86	—
1998–99	73.58	1,911,139	380.83	3
1999–2000	88.36	2,378,335	379.78	3
2000–01	104.37	2,853,523	364.91	7
2001–02	129.62	3,499,541	390.38	1

Her Majesty's Prison Service

Year	Energy consumption (GWh/y) 1	Energy expenditure (£/y) 2	Energy/m2 (kWh/m2/y) 3	Savings over 1997–8 (percentage) 4
1997–98	1583.45	23,868,557	540.89	—
1998–99	1197.81	20,016,907	452.93	24
1999–2000	1454.30	22,310,050	473.10	8
2000–01	1393.19	23,778,727	447.80	12
2001–02	1400.64	27,234,995	436.61	12

¹ . Energy Consumption: this is weather-corrected in the usual manner, using annual degree days relative to the 20 year average for 1990–01. The figures are those reported on for the Central Government Estate campaign, and include the Home Office's main estate plus its agencies (except Prison Service, which is reported separately), but not Non-Departmental PublicBodies (NDPBs).

² . Energy Expenditure: this is actual spend, and from April 2001, includes the Climate Change Levy.

³ . Energy/m2: this variable allows for changes in both weather and estate size on energy consumption. So annual changes will generally reflect efficiency changes.

⁴ . Savings over 1997–8: These have been expressed as percentage savings relative to the first year quoted here, and are based on the figures in the preceding column.

Information about energy consumption and expenditure by Home Office sponsored NDPBs is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Similarly year on year details of the amount spent on energy efficiency measures by my Department are not held centrally, however in the year 2001–2002 the Prison Service funded energy and water conservation schemes totalling £440,000.

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The Energy White Paper, 'Our Energy Future-Creating a Low Carbon Economy' made clear the importance the Government attaches to improving energy efficiency in its own estate. This is reflected in several targets. There is currently an interim target of a one per cent. pa ongoing reduction in weather-corrected carbon emissions, pending the development of new indicators and targets based on benchmarking the performance of each department's largest buildings. These new targets are planned to be in place later this year. New targets for Government Departments' use of CHP generated electricity will also be established during 2003.

In addition, the review of Government procurement has identified areas where procurement could reinforce the achievement of these targets, and arrangements are being made centrally for Departments to purchase goods with high energy efficiency standards and which provide good value for money.

On the purchase of renewable electricity, Ministers agreed the following target in May 2001: "All departments will ensure that by 31 March 2003, at least five per cent of their electricity comes from renewable sources that are exempt from the Climate Change Levy or from self generation, provided this does not entail excessive cost. This will rise to at least 10 per cent. supply from such sources by 31 March 2008, but will be reviewed after 31 March 2003 to take account of market conditions following the introduction of the renewables obligation. The review of 2003 will include consideration of increasing or bringing forward the target".

Europol

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the proposed changes to Europol's powers will affect its working relationship with domestic United Kingdom police and security forces; and if he will make a statement; [109146]

(2) if he will make a statement on the working relationship between domestic United Kingdom police and security forces and Europol. [109145]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Europol supports the operations of the EU Member States' law-enforcement authorities in combating serious and organised cross-border crime, by collating and analysing intelligence provided by national authorities. At present national authorities can only liaise with Europol through the national unit designated in each Member State. The UK's national unit is based at the National Criminal Intelligence Service, through which an excellent working relationship has been developed between Europol and our police and security forces. This is demonstrated by the fact that the UK continues to have the highest total number of investigations supported by or through Europol among all the Member States.

The current proposed amendments to the Europol Convention would allow Member States to permit their law-enforcement authorities to liaise directly with

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Europol, provided that national units are kept involved and simultaneously informed of any exchanges of information. This arrangement may provide a degree of extra flexibility and efficiency in certain cases, but will not significantly change the working relationship between Europol and the UK police and security forces.

Firearms

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many crimes involving firearms have occurred in each of the last five years in the (a) the Bury St. Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk, (c) Norfolk, (d) Essex and (e) Cambridgeshire per head of population; [109341]

(2) how many firearms have been handed in to police in each of the past five years in (a) the Bury St. Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk, (c) Norfolk, (d) Essex and (e) Cambridgeshire in each year since 1997; [109342]

(3) how many deaths by firearms have occurred in each year since 1997 in (a) the Bury St. Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk, (c) Norfolk, (d) Essex and (e) Cambridgeshire. [109343]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Available published data on the total number of recorded crimes in which firearms (including air weapons) were reported to have been used are given in the following table.

	Suffolk	Norfolk	Essex	Cambridgeshire
1997	17	75	269	134
1998–99	34	59	317	141
1999–2000	69	56	344	186
2000–01	136	57	356	146

Numbers of firearms offences were published on a calendar year basis up to 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter.

There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which will have the effect of increasing the number of crimes counted. Numbers of recorded crimes before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.

Available published data on the number of recorded homicide offences in which firearms were reported to have been used are given in the following table.

Number of homicide offences involving firearms

	Suffolk	Norfolk	Essex	Cambridgeshire
1997	0	0	1	0
1998–99	0	0	1	0
1999–2000	0	1	1	1
2000–01	1	1	1	1

Details of firearms offences have not been collected by parliamentary constituency.

Information on the number of firearms that have been handed in to police are not routinely collected centrally.

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