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15 Feb 2006 : Column 2120W—continued

Domestic Violence

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the new powers of arrest under section 10(1) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 will be implemented in England and Wales. [51343]


 
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Fiona Mactaggart: Section 10 of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims (DVC&V) Act 2004 made the provision for common assault to become an arrestable offence. On 1 January 2006, the existing arrest provisions (under PACE) whereby specific offences are arrestable offences based on the concept of seriousness were replaced by a simplified approach providing a constable with the power of arrest for all offences.

The exercise of the power will be subject to the constable considering and being able to show that arrest is necessary. A new PACE Code of Practice on Arrest was introduced on 1 January 2006 which set out the necessity principle in line with section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police (SOCAP) Act 2005.

This has meant that the commencement of section 110 of SOCAP has now overtaken section 10 of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act. Section 10 of the DVC&V Act has therefore been repealed prior to commencement.

Domestic Violence

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision is available in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) Doncaster North constituency to deal with domestic violence. [50589]

Fiona Mactaggart: The following provision for domestic violence is available in South Yorkshire and Doncaster North constituency. (a) South Yorkshire Sheffield:Women's Aid: Provides advice, specialist support and safe accommodation for women and children experiencing physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Haven House: Provide advice, specialist support and safe accommodation. Ashiana:

An Asian Women's Refuge providing advice, support and safe accommodation for women and children who have experienced physical, mental or sexual abuse. Women from Sheffield are referred on to Asian women's refuges in other towns. Young Women's Housing Project: Provides support to young women affected by sexual abuse. They provide a safe house and supported flats for single women and women with children.

Parson Cross Domestic Abuse Project: Community based project providing telephone support, home visits and a referral service in the Fox Hill and Parson Cross areas. They offer a weekly self help 'Women Talking to Women' group, and offer a support service for children and young people. South East Sheffield Domestic Abuse Project: Community based project also offering a helpline, support and weekly women's self help group in the Woodhouse, Mosborough, Hackenthorpe, Beighton, Waterthorpe and Intake areas. Burngreave Domestic Abuse Project: Community based project in the Burngreave area, providing a helpline and support to women affected by domestic abuse.

Sheaf Domestic Abuse Project: A community based project covering the Sheaf Valley area. Provide a helpline and support to women or men affected by domestic abuse. Other services:Roshni Asian Women's Resource Centre: Provides advice and information for
 
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Asian women in a non-judgmental fashion, and also raises awareness of domestic abuse issues in Asian communities.

Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service: Provides phone and face-to-face counselling, and support groups for women and girls over 13 who have experienced sexual abuse or rape. Priority is given to Black women and women with disabilities.

Women's Counselling and Therapy Service: Work with women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, and provide a general counselling service to young women (aged 16 to 25).Sheffield Working Women's Opportunities Project (SWWOP): Support women working in street prostitution. NSPCC—The NSPCC offer direct help to children and young people where there are significant concerns in relation to child abuse. Provide a national 24 hour helpline for advice and counselling. Rotherham:Rotherham Women's Refuge: Provides safe and supportive temporary accommodation to women, and women and their children escaping violence, four women and up to six children can be accommodated at any one time.

Choices and Options: An outreach/support service for women experiencing domestic violence. Apna Haq: An outreach/support service for non-white women particularly Asian women focussing on those who are or have experienced domestic violence, forced marriage, abandonment or sexual harassment. Risky Business: Works with girls/young women at risk from sexual exploitation Rotherham Women's Counselling Service: Provides counselling on a one to one for women who have experienced domestic violence and or sexual abuse. Barnsley:Primary Care Trust: £100,000 has been provided over two years for the provision of domestic abuse counselling and training. Barnsley Domestic Violence Group: Help and support for men and women, support groups, counselling, drop in facilities and helpline.

Barnsley Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Helpline: Telephone and face to face counselling for women who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Women's Refuge: Refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Support, advice, befriending and counselling. Referral via Samaritans. Pathways: Additional £88,000 has been identified from Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) for Pathways; an organisation that provides a wide range of services to victims of domestic abuse. (b) Doncaster Women's Aid: provides a service to women and their children who are living with, or fleeing Domestic Violence. Doncaster Women's Aid (DWA) works in accordance with the definition of Domestic Violence as decided upon by the Doncaster Domestic Violence Working Party.

Doncaster Women's Centre: The centre offers support, information, counselling, training and volunteering opportunities to women.H.E.L.P. Holidays: A non-profit making charity run mainly by people who are or have been lone parents. Dedicated to providing, high quality, low cost holidays for lone parent families. (Restricted to Members only). In respect of provision to deal with domestic violence in Doncaster North all of the above are accessible across Doncaster Metropolitan Borough
 
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Council. National services, for example the National Free Phone 24 Hour Help Line, are also available to victims of domestic violence throughout England and Wales.

Drugs

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of how many users of class A drugs there were in the UK in each year from 1998 to 2005. [44142]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 30 January 2006]: Estimates of the number of users of class A drugs in each year in the period 1998 to 2005 are presented in the following table.
Number of 16 to 59-year-old users of class A drugs in England and Wales in the year before interview from the British Crime Survey

Number
1998(20)809,000
20001,001,000
2001–02996,000
2002–031,028,000
2003–041,091,000
2004–051,012,000


(20) These point estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to sampling error and have associated confidence intervals.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the average sum spent each day by problematic drug users on drugs; and what percentage of such money he estimates is raised through crime. [44646]

Paul Goggins: Current estimates of the average sum spent each day by problematic drug users on drugs are not available.
Average expenditure
per day used (£)
1998
Amphetamines9.31
Heroin28.80
Cocaine13.68
Cannabis6.40
Ecstasy29.94

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of users of class A drugs aged under 25 years in each of the last five years; how many (a) residential and (b) non-residential drug treatment places were available in each year; and what estimate he has made of the (i) street price and (ii) volume of circulation of (A) cocaine, (B) crack cocaine and (C) heroin in each year. [44647]


 
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Paul Goggins: The available information is given as follows.

Estimates of the number of users of class A drugs, aged 16–24, in each year in the period 2000 to 2005 are presented in table 1.

The Department of Health does not centrally collate information on the number of drug treatment places available.

Estimates of the street prices for cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin are shown in table 2. We do not have estimates of the volume of drugs in circulation on an annual basis.
Table 1: Estimated number of users of class A drugs aged 16 to 24 in England and Wales in the year before interview from the British Crime Survey

Number of users(21)
2000542,000
2001–02499,000
2002–03474,000
2003–04493,000
2004–05494,000


(21) These estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to sampling error and have associated confidence intervals.


Table 2: UK average drug prices 2000–05
£

Cocaine (per gram)Crack (per 0.2 g rock)Heroin (per gram)
December 2000652370
December 2001602163
December 2002562061
December 2003551962
December 2004511855
April 2005511953

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has spent on campaigns to raise awareness of the health effects of illegal drugs in each year since 1997. [47546]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The FRANK campaign, launched in May 2003, which is administered and funded jointly by the Home Office and Department of Health, provides young people and their families with information and advice about drugs, including health effects. Spend on media and advertising on FRANK is given in the following table.
£ million

Spend on media and advertising
2003–043.7
2004–051.9
2005–06 (planned)1.4


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