Examination of Witnesses (Questions 500
- 502)
TUESDAY 1 DECEMBER 2009
MARIA EAGLE
MP AND MR
IAN POREE
Q500 Chairman: Do you think there
ought to be a drugs czar, someone who will cut across all the
government departments to be able to co-ordinate the Government's
approach? After all we have an enterprise czar, we have czars
in other areas, and would that not be helpful because the cocaine
trade crosses many government departments does it not?
Maria Eagle: It does and the criminal
justice departments generally, whether it is the Home Office,
Ministry of Justice or the Attorney's Office, and departments
like Health have pretty sophisticated cross-departmental working
arrangements at present to try and deal with issues that do that
like the one the Committee is considering today. I am not myself
pro or anti czars as a concept; if they can add something to what
is already there it is worth considering but I am not convinced
myself that in this particular instance it is a cut and dried
case because we have pretty close working relationships in any
event.
Q501 Chairman: Do you have figures
which you could send the Committee—I am sure you do not
have them here today—of the number of people in prison in
England and Wales who are there because they are part of the cocaine
trade rather than users, how many are foreign prisoners and whether
or not the Government has a position on whether they should be
transferred back to their countries in order to serve their sentence?
To give an example, someone coming from Brazil—just taking
any country—who is here, convicted of being a mule or being
part of a trafficking gang, sitting in prison at a cost to the
British taxpayer, is it not better that they should serve their
sentence in Brazil?
Maria Eagle: We would certainly
have figures in respect of those who have been sent to prison
for trafficking. We might not be able to identify those who have
trafficked cocaine as opposed to other types of illegal drugs,
but we would have the overall numbers and I can certainly get
you figures in respect of the numbers of foreign national prisoners
in the system. Whether I can tie that up with the offences they
have committed I will have to take some advice on, that might
be slightly more difficult, but I am very happy to send the Committee
all of those numbers that we have got.
Q502 Chairman: At some stage before
the inquiry ends I am sure Members of the Committee would like
to visit one of the prisons to look and see what they are doing
as far as rehabilitation and drug treatment is concerned, and
if you have any suggestions we would be very happy to receive
them.
Maria Eagle: Indeed, and we would
be very happy to facilitate such a visit, Chairman.
Chairman: Thank you very much, Minister.
Mr Poree, I am sorry you have just been sitting there but is because
the Minister has been ably answering all the questions, but thank
you for coming and sharing your time with us. Thank you.
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