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12 Sept 2005 : Column 2573W—continued
Domestic Violence
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has undertaken into whether there are linkages between domestic violence and cases of animal cruelty; and what steps he is taking to tackle each. [13974]
Hazel Blears: The Home Office has not commissioned or undertaken any research into the links between domestic violence and animal cruelty.
There have, however, been a number of studies, conducted in the United States that have aimed to explore the links between animal cruelty and family violence. In addition, organisations in the United Kingdom including the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (RSPCA) have also undertaken studies, which have looked at the links between serious animal abuse and family violence. These studies suggest that there may be some links between the serious abuse of animals and family violence, including the abuse of children. Although they are of interest it should be noted that most of these studies involve small sample sizes, many of the populations studied are non-representative and no control or comparison groups have been incorporated into the research design. The findings from these studies should, therefore, be treated with a degree of caution.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 since it came into force. [14720]
Paul Goggins: Information on prosecutions under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 are not available; not all sections of the act have yet been implemented. Statistics of court proceedings for 2005 will be published in the autumn of 2006.
Drugs
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated number is of crimes committed by cocaine and heroin drug users in England and Wales in each year between 2001 and 2004; and if he will make a statement. [11274]
Paul Goggins: Crime statistics used for monitoring overall crime trends, such as recorded crime and the British Crime Survey, do not contain information about the drug habits of individual offenders. It is therefore not possible to provide figures for the total number of crimes committed by drug users each year.
The crimes committed by drug users are frequently acquisitive crimes committed to obtain money to buy drugs. Between 2001–02 and 2004–05 there has been a 14 per cent. reduction in these crimes overall. This
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includes a 23 per cent. decrease in burglary, a 27 per cent. reduction in robbery and an 8 per cent. reduction in shoplifting over this time period.
The Home Office sponsored New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) survey, which involved interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police, provides an insight into the proportion of crimes that are drug related. In the study carried out between 1999 and 2001 at 16 custody suites in high crime areas across England and Wales, 38 per cent. of all arrestees included in the survey tested positive for opiates such as heroin, and cocaine/crack. However, the proportion testing positive was higher among those arrested for acquisitive offences: 57 per cent. for those arrested for burglary, 60 per cent. for those arrested for robbery; and 66 per cent. for those arrested for shoplifting.
A new Arrestee Survey is currently being undertaken which will provide more comprehensive and nationally representative information on the proportion of crime that is drug-related in the future.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders who tested positive for drugs at charge (a) completed treatment and (b) dropped out of treatment before completion in each month since January 2004. [11946]
Paul Goggins: Data on the drug treatment of individuals is currently stored in the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS). The data is confidential and there are complex issues in matching this with Criminal Justice data about individuals. While it is possible to do this on an anonymised basis, the information requested could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
We are currently considering ways of improving the monitoring of treatment completion and individual offenders' criminal justice history, which will include drug testing.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the implementation of (a) drug treatment testing orders and (b) drug rehabilitation requirements is administered by his Department; what the cost of the administration of (i) drug treatment testing orders and (ii) drug rehabilitation requirements by his Department was in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [10867]
Paul Goggins: The Interventions Unit of the National Probation Directorate (NPD) has the main national responsibility for issuing guidance and is responsible for overseeing the delivery of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) and Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs) by the National Probation Service (NPS) in accordance with National Standards. The staff costs of the small team that carry out this work are estimated to be £125,000 per annum.
Probation areas in England are responsible for the supervision and enforcement of DTTOs/DRRs. Welsh areas have the additional responsibility of commissioning DTTO/DRR treatment and testing provision. In 2005–06 £39 million was allocated to probation areas in England and Wales; £7 million to the national offender
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management service; and the remaining £42 million to the Department of Health Pooled Treatment Budget (out of a total of £88 million DTTO/DRR funding).
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) facilities and (b) premises are provided by his Department in Mid-Bedfordshire for the provision of (i) drug treatment and testing and (ii) rehabilitation of offenders; and if he will make a statement. [11090]
Fiona Mactaggart: All adult offenders in Mid-Bedfordshire serving community sentences or subject to supervision following their release from prison on licence are case managed by probation staff based at Bedfordshire probation area's office at 41 Harpur Street, Bedford. This includes offenders subject to Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs), Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs) of the new community order, drug testing licence conditions and Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPOs) with drug misuse problems. Assessments, offender management interviews, delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes and drug testing, where appropriate, take place at these premises.
Young offenders from Mid-Bedfordshire serving community sentences under the youth justice system are supervised by Bedfordshire Youth Offending Service at 39 Oakwood Avenue, Dunstable.
The other facilities and premises for the provision of drug treatment and testing and the rehabilitation of offenders in Mid-Bedfordshire are as set out in the following table.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-governmental voluntary bodies within (a) England and (b) Hertfordshire are included in the implementation of drug treatment testing orders and drug rehabilitation requirement. [16228]
Paul Goggins:
This information is not available centrally for England and Wales and could be only collected at disproportionate cost.
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The treatment and testing components of drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) and drug rehabilitation requirements (DRRs) in England are commissioned by local drug action teams (DATs). Probation areas are responsible for the supervision and enforcement of DTTOs/DRRs and the delivery of some interventions. Welsh probation areas are funded to meet full DTTO/DRR costs.
There are three non-governmental voluntary sector treatment providers involved in the implementation of DTTOs and DRRs in Hertfordshire: Drugcare; Druglink and Vale House Stabilisation Service.
Vale House Stabilisation Service
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated value is of seizures of (a) heroin and (b) cocaine in the UK in 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [11217]
Paul Goggins: Data on the value of heroin and cocaine seizures in 2003–04 is not collated by the Home Office.
The most recent data on the estimated street value of heroin and cocaine seized is available in Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom, 2000. The figures for cocaine and heroin are provided in table one. They show that in 2000, the estimated street value of all cocaine and heroin seizures was £256,393,000 and £236,708,000, respectively.
The most recent data on the volume of drug seizures made by UK police and customs is from 2002, published in Drug Seizures and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom 2001 and 2002. In that year, 2,730 kilos of heroin and 3,580 kilos of cocaine were seized. Copies of this report are available on the RDS website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hosb0804.pdf.
| UK Police | UK Customs | All seizures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cocaine | 102,297,000 | 154,096,000 | 256,393,000 |
| Heroin | 139,277,000 | 94,431,000 | 236,708,000 |
Source:
Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom, 2000.
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Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has commissioned on the relationship between drug use and gun crime. [13926]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 21 July 2005]: The Home Office sponsored New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) survey, which involved interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police, included questions on carrying guns. A paper based on the data has been published by T. H. Bennett and K. Holloway, Possession and use of illegal guns among criminals in England and Wales" (Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol 43, No three, pp 237–252). The Home Office has also conducted an Arrestee Survey which may highlight this issue. The results of this survey will be published later this year. There have also been discussions in the context of the Home Secretary's round table on gun crime, which has looked at possible links and appropriate interventions.
This research is used to inform policy and legislative proposals. The Violent Crime Reduction Bill includes a number of measures designed to further tighten the firearms legislation, including a ban on the manufacture, import or sale of realistic imitation firearms, an increase from a maximum of six to 12 months sentence for carrying an imitation firearm in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, and an increase in the minimum age for possession of an air weapon to 18. The Bill also includes a new offence of using another person to look after, hide or transport a dangerous weapon. These measures complement existing legislation and demonstrate our determination to tackle gun crime.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many road traffic accidents drivers (a) had been using and (b) tested positive for drugs in the last 12 months, broken down by police authority. [4041]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is not collected on the Home Office motoring offences database or on the recorded crime database.
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the street price of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine and (c) cannabis in each of the past 10 years. [10848]
Paul Goggins: UK average prices for (a) heroin, (b) cocaine and (c) cannabis resin and herbal cannabis for the past 10 years are shown in the table.
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Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons have been free of all illegal drugs use in each of the past five years; and what proportion they represent of all prisons. [6119]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) programme monitors levels of drug misuse. Prisoners are tested routinely for a panel of seven illegal drugs. No prison, in the past five years, has been entirely free of illegal drugs.
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets for reduction in the use of illegal drugs were published by the Government in 1998. [10995]
Paul Goggins: The Comprehensive Spending Review, published in July 1998, set out targets for the reduction in the use of illegal drugs as follows:
To increase the participation of problem drug misusers, including prisoners, in drug treatment programmes which have a positive impact on health and reducing crime; and
These targets were revised in subsequent Spending Reviews to reflect the developing evidence base. The current Public Service Agreement targets agreed in Spending Review 2004 have a clear focus on outcomes and delivery, and are both challenging and measurable.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 127W, on the Drugs Act 2005, if he will break the figures down by the relevant sections of the Act. [13216]
Paul Goggins: The table sets out the estimates of additional prosecutions and additional convictions in a full year arising from various provisions of the Drugs Act 2005.
I regret that an arithmetical error resulted in the estimate for convictions arising from section two being omitted from the total estimate of convictions provided in the answer given on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 127W. I have written to the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn) correcting the error and placed a copy of my letter in the Library.
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