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1714882

registered interest
date	30/04/2024
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the number of convictions for class (a) A and (b) B drug possession in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	24237
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2024 answer text <p>No specific assessment on trends in convictions for drug offences as a result of policy changes has been made, but the Government takes the matter of harmful drugs very seriously. Our approach to them remains clear - we must prevent drug misuse in our communities and support people through treatment and recovery.</p><p>The police have a range of powers at their disposal to deal with drug-related offences, such as illegal possession, and how police choose to pursue investigations is an operational decision for Chief Constables, but we are clear that we expect them to enforce the law. We expect police to take a zero tolerance approach to drug possession, and this can include sanctions other than prosecution. This includes referrals to treatment, as well as sanctions to make offenders understand the impact of their actions and opportunities for them to change their behaviour. However, we are clear prosecution remains an option to deal with repeat offenders.</p><p>We keep the classification of drugs under review. Ministers are subject to a statutory obligation to consider advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), an independent scientific advisory body, before making legislation on the classification of drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Legislative changes are accompanied by a robust impact assessment where we set out the potential impacts of such changes.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 08/05/2024 15:25:44 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1665730

registered interest
date	18/10/2023
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the promotion of illegal body building drugs on (a) TikTok and (b) other social media platforms.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	203231
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2023 answer text <p>Specified anabolic steroids, which are associated with bodybuilding, are controlled under Class C of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and it is an offence to supply these.</p><p>The Online Safety Bill will require all tech companies to take robust action against illegal content. Priority offences listed in schedule 7 of the Bill reflect the most serious and prevalent illegal content and activity, against which companies must take measures. This includes the sale of controlled and illegal drugs. Companies will need to take proactive measures to identify and tackle this content on their platforms.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 23/10/2023 16:53:33 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1582186

registered interest
date	31/01/2023
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is tacking to tackle gangs offering free e-cigarettes to groom vulnerable children into drug dealing.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	136611
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2023 answer text <p>The grooming of vulnerable children into drug dealing by any means is deplorable and the Government is determined to tackle it.</p><p>Through our County Lines Programme, police funded activity has already closed over 2,900 county lines, resulted over 8,000 arrests and over 9,500 individuals engaged through safeguarding interventions. As part of our Programme, we are also funding Catch22 and Missing People’s SafeCall service to provide specialist support to victims of county lines exploitation and their families.</p><p>More widely, we are also driving targeted action to respond to child exploitation through the Home Office-funded Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society. This works with a range of national and local partners, including businesses, to identify exploitation trends, such as the use of e-cigarettes, and work collaboratively to prevent exploitation. We are also taking steps to strengthen local approaches through the Department for Education funded Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme which is developing and embedding practice principles to ensure an effective and consistent multi-agency approach to tackling the exploitation of children.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 08/02/2023 16:28:28 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1416901

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to increase funding to support the police in undertaking work on (a) drug prevention and (b) tackling the rate of drugs-related criminal activity.
tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
uin	112506
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>Drugs devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. This Government is determined to tackle this threat and on 6 December published a ten-year Strategy to combat illicit drugs. The Strategy sets out our whole system approach, to cut off the supply of drugs by criminal gangs, give people with a drug dependence a route to a productive and drug-free life, and reduce the so-called ‘recreational’ use of drugs.</p><p>Underpinned by significant investment, we have set out our ambition to reduce drug-related crimes, deaths, harms and overall drug use.</p><p>We are investing £25m to build a strong evidence base on what works in reducing the demand for drugs among the wider population. This aims to prevent drug use by ensuring people understand the harms associated with illicit drug use, and that individuals face meaningful consequences if they do use drugs. We recognise that one of the most effective approaches to reducing demand is through building the resilience of young people so that they are better able to avoid being drawn into drug use or other risky behaviours. We are taking action to prevent the onset of drug use among children and young people through early intervention to support at-risk groups and investing in research to build the evidence base in this area.</p><p>Through our Drugs Strategy we are also delivering a robust and innovative ‘attack plan’ which targets every phase of the drugs supply chain. The Home Office is dedicating £300m over the next three years to support the police, and other partners on tackling drugs supply. This includes investing up to £145m to bolster our County Lines Programme and tackle the most violent and exploitative distribution model yet seen.</p><p>The strategy is on the gov.uk page and can be found here <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/from-harm-to-hope-a-10-year-drugs-plan-to-cut-crime-and-save-lives" target="_blank">From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 03/02/2022 14:22:47 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1121744

registered interest
date	18/04/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the potential links between retail crime incidents and illegal drug use.
tabling member constituency	Mansfield
tabling member printed	Ben Bradley
uin	245982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/05/2019 answer text <p>We know that there is a strong link between drug misuse and offending, and offenders who use heroin and crack cocaine are estimated to commit 45% of all acquisitive crime.</p><p>The Government recognises that there are strong links between drug misuse and offending. Our Drug Strategy is clear that supporting people to address their dependence on drugs through treatment and recovery support is critical to tackling the risk of reoffending. This includes the use of health-based, rehabilitative interventions within the criminal justice system to help prevent further substance misuse and offending.</p><p>In addition, I chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together key partners to drive forward progress on tackling retail crime.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 07/05/2019 15:59:34 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4663 label Biography information for Ben Bradley

1081685

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the use of social media and encrypted messaging apps to supply and access illegal drugs.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL14218
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>It is unacceptable and irresponsible for tech companies to allow criminals to exploit their services and we expect companies to take action and report illegal activity to the police</p><p><br>A robust law enforcement response is a fundamental part of the Government's drug strategy and we are taking coordinated action to tackle illegal drugs alongside associated criminal activity. Law enforcement agencies continue to work with internet service providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences such as selling drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.</p><p>The joint Home Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Online Harms White Paper will be published shortly, setting out how we will tackle online harms and set clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep UK citizens safe.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 18/03/2019 17:45:12 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

999610

registered interest
date	01/11/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's report entitled Understanding organised crime 2015-16, published in November 2018, what assessment he has made of the reasons behind the £9.3 billion rise in the social and economic cost of drugs to society; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Heeley
tabling member printed	Louise Haigh
uin	187083
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2018 answer text <p>The social and economic cost of organised drugs supply to the UK is estimated to £20 billion for the financial year 2015/16. This is an increase of £9.3 billion compared to the previous estimate for the financial year 2010/11. This is due to:</p><ul><li>an increase in the unit costs used to estimate drug-related acquisitive crime;</li><li>an increase in the volume of drug-related deaths;</li><li>the inclusion of costs to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the National Crime Agency, and expenditure on media information activity;</li><li>the inclusion of non-legal aid defence spending in the costs to the criminal justice system for drug possession and supply offences and, to a lesser extent, the opportunity cost of jurors’ time,</li></ul><p>Given much of the change in cost is attributable to changes in methodology, the 2015/16 estimate is not directly comparable with the 2010/11 estimate. Most of the change should not therefore be interpreted as a worsening of the overall situation.</p><p>The Government’s new Serious and Organised Crime Strategy emphasises the importance of tackling the high harm networks supplying drugs and trafficking them across the border. We are taking action target the illicit finance that underpins their activities through cash seizures, asset forfeitures, money laundering prosecutions and civil or criminal recovery prosecutions.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 06/11/2018 17:10:11 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4473 label Biography information for Louise Haigh

909171

registered interest
date	21/05/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of progress in tackling the production and distribution of illegal psychoactive substances.
tabling member constituency	Belfast North
tabling member printed	Nigel Dodds
uin	146127
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/05/2018 answer text <p>Section 58 of the Act commits the Secretary of State to review the operation of the Act, prepare a report of the review, and lay a copy of the report before Parliament 30 months after the commencement of the Act. The 30 month review of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 will be published in November 2018.</p><p>Early evidence since the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (2016 PSA) came into effect shows that it is working. It has removed psychoactive substances from open sale.</p><p>Since the Act came into force, over 300 retailers across the United Kingdom have either closed down or are no longer selling psychoactive substances, police have arrested suppliers and action by the National Crime Agency has resulted in the removal of these drugs for sale on UK based websites.</p> answering member constituency Wyre and Preston North answering member printed Mr Ben Wallace question first answered 30/05/2018 13:08:44 answering member 1539 label Biography information for Mr Ben Wallace
tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn

900181

registered interest
date	08/05/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the length of sentences for drug-related crimes.
tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
tabling member printed	David Simpson
uin	141754
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2018 answer text <p>The Government believe the sentences for drug related offences are proportionate and there are no current plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the length of sentences for drug related crimes.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 21/05/2018 16:49:48 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	1597 label Biography information for David Simpson

887091

registered interest
date	19/04/2018
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Drugs: Crime
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people susceptible to drug (a) use, (b) selling and (c) running as a result of (i) homelessness, (ii) exclusion from school and (iii) living in care.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Heeley
tabling member printed	Louise Haigh
uin	136858
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2018 answer text <p>The latest data on homelessness, school exclusions and looked after children are available at the following links, respectively:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2015-to-2016" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2015-to-2016</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017</a></p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 30/04/2018 15:23:22 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4473 label Biography information for Louise Haigh