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13 Feb 2006 : Column 1721W—continued
Drugs
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funds his Department has contributed to UK efforts to halt the import of illegal drugs from Afghanistan. [47725]
Paul Goggins: In 2005–06 £380 million is going towards reducing the availability of illegal drugs in the UK. It is not possible to disaggregate the amount by origin of the drugs.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what policies his Department has developed to deal with the flow of illegal drugs into the UK from Afghanistan. [47727]
Paul Goggins: The Government's Drug Strategy aims to reduce the harms caused by all illicit drugs. It focuses on the most dangerous drugs—heroin, crack and cocaine—the most damaged communities and the problematic drug users who cause the most harm to themselves and others. The Strategy takes a holistic approach which complements efforts to reduce the supply of drugs with action to diminish demand.
The White Paper, One Step Ahead, a 21st Century Strategy to defeat organised crime" (Cm 6167) set out our plans for tackling organised crime, of which Class A drugs trafficking forms a part. They are based on the principle of reducing harm and include the establishment of the Serious Organised Crime Agency with effect from 1 April.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking with European partners to stem the import of illegal drugs from Afghanistan. [47728]
Paul Goggins: We co-operate closely with police, customs and other law enforcement agencies in Europe, both bilaterally and through Europol, to interdict drug supply from Afghanistan, and to target the criminal groups who profit from this trade, all along the supply chain. We are also seeking to increase the amount of assistance provided by the ED to the counter-narcotics work of the Government of Afghanistan. In 2005 the total assistance given by the European Commission and EU member states rose by 250 million euros.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the effects on heroin use in the UK of the illegal drugs trade in Afghanistan. [47729]
Paul Goggins: We estimate that over 90 per cent. of the heroin which reaches the UK originates in Afghanistan.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that front-line staff in the (a) police and (b) probation services have adequate education and training concerning crack cocaine use and treatment. [47694]
13 Feb 2006 : Column 1722W
Mr. Charles Clarke: The primary responsibility for the training of police officers and probation officers lies with their respective professional organisations.
To assist both the probation service and police the National Treatment Agency has established a work programme specifically to address this issue, which focuses on: developing a comprehensive training package for front-line staff based on new occupational standards; piloting a range of new materials and tools to enable front-line staff to work more effectively with crack users; evaluating existing specialist services with a view to identifying and disseminating good practice.
Probation officer training has modules on substance misuse, which are consistent with the Drug and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (DANOS).
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of the worth of the UK heroin market. [47715]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In 2000 the Home Office published Sizing the UK Market for Illicit Drugs", www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ74-drugs.pdf, which provides estimates of the value of the UK market for illicit drugs in 1998. This estimates that the total value of the UK market for heroin in 1998 was £2,313 million.
Feltham Young Offenders
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accidents in the security links corridors at Feltham young offenders institution have been experienced by prison officers responding to alarm bells in each of the past five years. [48621]
Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 2 February 2006]: The figures are set out in the table. Figures for 2001 to 2003 are drawn from all available accident books, and for 2004–05 from accident investigation documents.
| Number of accidents | |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2002 | 6 |
| 2003 | 6 |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | 5 |
Financial Fraud
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of financial fraud suffered by individuals was represented by card-not-present fraud in the latest year for which figures are available. [50275]
Paul Goggins:
APACS (the UK payments association) figures show that in 2004 card not present fraud represented just under 30 per cent. of all plastic card fraud losses. Card not present fraud accounted for £150.8 million of the £504.8 million total.
13 Feb 2006 : Column 1723W
Fixed-penalty Notices
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fixed penalty notices have been issued for drunk and disorderly behaviour in each of the last four years, broken down by police authority. [29350]
Mr. Charles Clarke: After being piloted in four police forces between August 2002 and September 2003, penalty notices for disorder were rolled out to all police forces in England and Wales during 2004. The following table gives figures for the number of penalty notices issued for being drunk and disorderly in 2004 by each police force, alongside provisional figures for January to July 2005.
(43) Provisional data.
Source: RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Home Detention Curfews
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to speed up the process for (a) tagging criminals and (b) prosecuting violators of curfews. [48685]
Fiona Mactaggart: The electronic monitoring contractors must comply with strict Home Office deadlines for tagging people and prosecuting curfew breaches. Any under-performance results in financial deductions from the amount paid to them for delivering the electronic monitoring service.
In December 2005 the contractors met the deadlines for tagging people in 99.5 per cent. of cases and for breaching curfews in 96.0 per cent. of cases. A cross-agency delivery plan is in place to speed up the enforcement of community penalty breaches, which includes cases where curfew requirements have been breached. Prisoners released under the home detention curfew scheme who fail to comply with the curfew conditions are liable to be recalled to prison by the Secretary of State. The National Offender Management Service is required to issue a revocation order within 24 hours of being notified, by the electronic monitoring contractors, of a confirmed breach of curfew. This target is met in 100 per cent. of cases of HDC breach of curfew.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people breached home detention curfew conditions and were subsequently returned to custody in each of the last five years. [48795]
Fiona Mactaggart: Information on the number of persons recalled to prison from home detention curfew between 1999 and 2004, by reason for recall, can be found in table 10.7 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 17/05: 'Offender Management Caseload Statistics, England and Wales, 2004'. Copies of this publication can be found in the Library.
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