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22 Apr 2008 : Column 1935W—continued

Asylum: Children

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to meet local authority representatives to discuss grant payments for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. [165417]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 20 November 2007]: I met with representatives of local authorities last month to discuss this matter. In the meantime, there is on-going dialogue between my officials and local authorities on a number of funding issues in respect of the support provided by local authorities to unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Cannabis

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions took place of individuals found to be supplying cannabis seeds via internet websites in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [200035]

Mr. Coaker: I have been informed by the Ministry of Justice that there have been no such prosecutions. This is because the sale of cannabis seeds is not illegal in the UK.

22 Apr 2008 : Column 1936W

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the links between home-grown cannabis and organised crime; and whether these links have changed since January 2004. [200036]

Mr. Coaker: The Serious Organised Crime Agency produced the 2008-09 UK Threat Assessment of Serious Organised Crime at the beginning of April. The Threat Assessment recognises that while cannabis continues to be imported into the UK in significant quantities commercial cultivation in the UK, mainly by organised criminals, is on the increase, particularly the high potency form of cannabis known as ‘skunk’.

Cocaine: Misuse

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the prevalence of cocaine abuse in the 15 to 25 year age group in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [200002]

Mr. Coaker: The British Crime Survey (BCS) provides information on the prevalence and trends of illicit drug use among 16 to 59-year-olds in England and Wales and reports prevalence of cocaine use in the last year for young people aged 16 to 24.

Figures in the following table show prevalence of cocaine use (including crack cocaine and cocaine powder) over the last five years using the 2002-03 to 2006-07 BCS. The BCS shows that cocaine use among young people has remained stable during this period.

BCS: P roportion of 16 to 24-year-olds reporting use of cocaine in the last year
Percentage
Drug	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	Statistically significant change2002-03 to2006-07( 1)	Statistically significant change2005-06 to2006-07( 1)
Any cocaine	5.2	5.4	5.1	5.9	6.1	—	—
Cocaine powder	5.1	5.2	5.1	5.9	6.0	—	—
Crack cocaine	0.5	0.4	0.1	0.4	0.4	—	—
Unweighted base	4,227	5,351	6,796	5,892	5,706	—	—
(1) A statistically significant increase at the 5 per cent. level would be denoted by ‘up arrow character’. A statistically significant decrease at the 5 per cent. level would be denoted by ‘down arrow character.’. Source: British Crime Survey

Crime

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will assess research on the principal variables which affect levels of crime in order to assess their relative significance. [196825]

Jacqui Smith: The Home Office has no current plans to undertake such an evaluation. We already make use of the body of criminological and economic research evidence around a number of socioeconomic variables that impact on crime (including, for example, the economy, the impact of the police and criminal justice system, and demographic changes). However, given the complex way in which these factors interact, a conclusive judgment on their relative importance is extremely difficult to make. Furthermore, what comprises key factors may vary significantly between different types of crime and over time.

Crime: Bus Services

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed on buses in each year since 1997. [200250]

Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally. Offences committed in relation to buses cannot be separately identified in the recorded crime series.

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Crime: Young People

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of those arrested for robbery in (a) the East of England and (b) Suffolk in 2006 were aged 17 and under. [162591]

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Mr. Coaker: Information on arrests collected by the Ministry of Justice provides data on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, by age group, gender, ethnicity, and main offence group. The available information is given in the following table. Data for 2006-07 will be available later in the year.

N umber of persons aged 17 and under arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) within the ‘robbery’ offence group, by area, 2005-06 (latest available).
	Total
	Age 17 and under	All ages and age note known	Percentage of age 17 and under
East region	990	2,061	48
Suffolk police force area	60	191	31
Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

Crimes of Violence

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of incidents of violence against the person involved a (a) knife, (b) hitting implement, (c) glass or bottle, (d) stabbing implement, (e) firearm, (f) stone or stones, (g) syringe and (h) other implement in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 1997. [195598]

Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally. It is not possible to determine the implement used in crimes of violence against the person from the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office.

Statistics are published on the number of homicides by the apparent method of killing. Figures for 1996 to 2006-07 are given in the following table.

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Table 1.03 Offences currently( 1) recorded as homicide by apparent method of killing and sex of victim: England and Wales, 1996 to 2006-07
Recorded crime
Apparent method	1996	1997	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Male victims
Sharp instrument	139	133	137	151	153	156	194	182	183	187	162	185
Blunt instrument	49	48	47	41	44	49	36	26	53	49	40	33
Hitting, kicking, etc.	64	76	79	76	82	86	120	110	111	110	89	126
Strangulation(2)	20	10	12	29	20	84	17	20	18	16	14	23
Shooting(3)	38	52	45	42	52	63	91	55	61	60	38	53
Explosion(4)	2	1	1	2	3	2	—	4	—	2	24	1
Burning	13	15	15	13	9	9	15	7	19	18	16	13
Drowning(5)	4	7	5	3	3	7	8	4	20	9	3	7
Poison or drugs(6)	15	12	12	24	20	21	20	66	11	18	20	24
Motor vehicle(7)	2	11	12	11	10	11	15	17	16	16	11	3
Other	30	24	26	26	25	46	24	29	21	28	17	28
Not known	—	6	9	12	28	9	17	22	41	39	49	51
Total	376	395	400	430	449	543	557	542	554	552	483	547
Female victims
Sharp instrument	58	67	65	50	60	57	67	83	59	72	57	73
Blunt instrument	19	23	21	24	26	27	24	22	20	17	19	8
Hitting, kicking, etc.	17	23	24	13	13	16	25	38	26	16	20	14
Strangulation(2)	57	54	49	49	36	63	60	46	49	48	41	31
Shooting(3)	9	6	7	4	9	9	6	20	6	10	11	6
Explosion(4)	—	—	—	—	1	—	1	—	—	—	29	—
Burning	11	14	13	19	4	9	14	15	9	15	11	15
Drowning(5)	5	—	1	3	3	2	4	2	4	4	1	1
Poison or drugs(6)	13	5	5	23	33	11	14	135	9	9	10	1
Motor vehicle(7)	—	1	1	3	1	8	5	4	7	6	2	4
Other	15	13	12	17	16	22	14	21	15	13	7	15
Not known	6	8	10	11	24	5	14	25	18	20	34	19
Total	210	214	208	216	226	229	248	411	222	230	242	187
Total victims
Sharp instrument	197	200	202	201	213	213	261	265	242	259	219	258
Blunt instrument	68	71	68	65	70	76	60	48	73	66	59	41
Hitting, kicking, etc.	81	99	103	89	95	102	145	148	137	126	109	140
Strangulation(2)	77	64	61	78	56	147	77	66	67	64	55	54
Shooting(3)	47	58	52	46	61	72	97	75	67	70	49	59
Explosion(4)	2	1	1	2	4	2	1	4	_	2	53	1
Burning	24	29	28	32	13	18	29	22	28	33	27	28
Drowning(5)	9	7	6	6	6	9	12	6	24	13	4	8
Poison or drugs(6)	28	17	17	47	53	32	34	201	20	27	30	25
Motor vehicle(7)	2	12	13	14	11	19	20	21	23	22	13	7
Other	45	37	38	43	41	68	38	50	36	41	24	43
Not known	6	14	19	23	52	14	31	47	59	59	83	70
Total	586	609	608	646	675	772	805	953	776	782	725	734
(1) As at 12 November 2007; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2 )Including asphyxiation. Year 2000-01 includes 58 Chinese nationals who collectively suffocated in a lorry en route into the UK. (3 )These figures may not agree with those in the firearms chapter because (a) figures include cases where the firearm was used as a blunt instrument and (b) homicide figures include shooting by crossbows and are compiled at a later date and take into account the results of police and court decisions. (4 )Year 2005-06 includes 52 victims of the 7 July London bombings. (5 )Year 2003-04 includes 20 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay. (6 )Year 2002-03 includes 172 victims of Dr. Shipman. (7 )Excluding death by careless/dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking.

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