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24 Jun 2004 : Column 1507W—continued

Domestic Violence

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what review has been made of his Department's definition of domestic violence as promised in the Summary of responses to Safety and Justice: The Government's proposals on domestic violence. [178815]

Paul Goggins: A review was undertaken within the context of work to address the specific needs of minority communities. The definition has been widened to incorporate violence by family members as well as between adults who are, or were, intimate partners. This was done to ensure that those issues of chief concern to BME communities, such as so-called "honour crimes" are properly reflected.

Following the review, a common Government definition of domestic violence was agreed. It follows the definition used by the Association of Chief Police Officers, and is:
 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1508W
 

"Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality."

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department expects to complete its research into the links between domestic violence and substance misuse. [178821]

Caroline Flint: Research into the links between substance abuse and domestic violence has been commissioned and is being undertaken by the School of Health and Social Studies at the University of Warwick. We expect the research to be completed by the autumn.

Drug Dealers (Assets Seized)

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total of assets seized from convicted drug dealers was in each of the last three years. [177831]

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not yet available for the year 2003–04. The total of assets confiscated from convicted drug dealers in each of the previous three years is as follows:

	Amount Confiscated(£)
2000–2001	11,757,000
2001–2002	11,873,000
2002–2003	20,905,000

The total amount obtained from confiscation orders in each of these years is £19,833,000 in 2000–01; £20,609,000 in 2001–02; and £41,008,000 in 2002–03.

Drugs Misuse (Rochdale)

Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what public funds were spent on tackling drugs misuse in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2003–04; and what percentage of funding in each case was targeted at the ethnic minority community. [178500]

Caroline Flint: Breakdown of financial allocation to local constituencies is not available in the form requested as funding is allocated to drug action team (DAT) area. In this case Rochdale DAT which covers Rochdale, Oldham East and Saddleworth and Heywood and Middleton.

The period for 1997–98 is prior to the formation of the National Drug Strategy and there is no locally held information on funding available for that financial year. As a result it is not possible to provide information on the amount of funding targeted at black and ethnic minority communities at this time.

In 2003–04 the total drugs allocation for Rochdale DAT was £1,869,000. In order to ensure consistency figures supplied are based on funding streams associated with the National Drug Strategy and are readily
 
24 Jun 2004 : Column 1509W
 
verifiable. These funding streams are specifically targeted at tackling the harm caused to individuals, families and communities by the misuse of drugs. Other mainstream funding is made available at a local level, this varies and both in amount and origin as a result it is not possible to provide robust financial information.
£

	2003–04
Partnership capacity	68,000
Treatment pooled budget	1,023,000
Criminal Justice Interventions Programme—capacity	178,000
Through care after care	62,000
Building safer communities(8)	297,000
Young people	241,000
Total	1,869,000

⁽⁸⁾ Contains non drug elements

During 2003–04, there were three specific black and ethnic minority services provided in the Rochdale area.

Two were funded by the DAT, the DAFAY project and a community interactors project, in total the funding amounted to £70,000. The DAFAY project works with young black and ethnic minorities on an outreach basis, offering one-to-one and group counselling services for substance misuse problems. The community interactors project has recruited six volunteers from local black and ethnic minority communities to provide drugs awareness to young people and parents and act as a liaison point between drugs services and the community. The third service, the EDEN project, works with adult black and ethnic minorities and is funded by the National Lottery Fund.

All the services in the Rochdale area will work with black and ethnic minorities so a proportion of the total budget will be spent on black and ethnic minority communities, however this is difficult to quantify.

Drugs Misuse

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what public funds were spent on tackling drugs misuse in Stoke-on-Trent North in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2003–04. [177619]

Caroline Flint: Breakdown of financial allocation to local constituencies is not available in the form requested as funding is allocated to Drug Action Team (DAT) area. In this case Stoke on Trent DAT which covers Stoke on Trent North, Central and South.

The period for 1997–98 is prior to the formation of the National Drug Strategy and there is no locally held information on funding available for that financial year.

In 2003–04 the total drugs allocation for Stoke on Trent DAT was £2,039,718. In order to ensure consistency figures supplied are based on funding streams associated with the National Drug Strategy and are readily verifiable. These funding streams are specifically targeted at tackling the harm caused to individuals, families and communities by the misuse of drugs. Other mainstream funding is made available at a local level, this varies and both in amount and origin as a result it is not possible to provide robust financial information.
 
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	2003–04(£)
Partnership Capacity	70,467
Treatment Pooled Budget	1,341,800
Through Care After Care— Pump Priming	35,000
Building Safer Communities(9)	397,891
Young People	194,560
Total	2,039,718

⁽⁹⁾ Contains non drug elements

Durham Jail

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he last visited Durham jail; [176660]

(2) when Durham jail was last inspected; [176662]

(3) how many governors there have been at Durham jail since 1 May 1999; [176663]

(4) what the average length of service at any one prison has been of the current governor of Durham jail; [176664]

(5) how many prisoners absconded from Durham jail in each year since 1 January 1997; [176666]

(6) how many hours of the prisoners' day at Durham jail was devoted to purposeful activity in the last year for which figures are available; [176670]

(7) how many staff at Durham jail have been on sick leave in each month since 1 May 2003. [176671]

Paul Goggins: The current Home Secretary has not visited Durham prison, however, as Minister for Correctional Services, I visited on 19 March 2004. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons last inspected Durham male prison between 19 and 22 August 2003 and the female prison between 5 and 9 January 2004. Mike Newell, has been the governing governor of Durham prison since May 1999, prior to that he was governor of Hull prison between March 1996 and May 1999. Since January 1997 there have been no escapes or absconds from Durham. Data show that each prisoner had an average of 18 hours purposeful activity each week.

In the last 12 months the following numbers of staff have been on sick leave each month:

	Number
May 2003	89
June 2003	87
July 2003	97
August 2003	106
September 2003	100
October 2003	125
November 2003	115
December 2003	103
January 2004	118
February 2004	100
March 2004	102
April 2004	96

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