Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps the (a) police and (b) National Crime Agency have taken to tackle county lines operations in (i) Hampshire and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why, through the 10-year Drug Strategy, we are bolstering our flagship County Lines Programme, investing up to £145m over three years to tackle this violent and exploitative distribution model.
County lines is a national issue which affects all forces which is why, through the Programme, we fund the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The County Lines Programme forces (MPS, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and British Transport Police) also regularly conduct joint operations with importing forces. In addition, we have established a dedicated fund which provides local police forces, including Hampshire Constabulary, with additional funding to tackle county lines.
Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,100 line closures, over 15,600 arrests and over 8,000 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,100 line closures by the Programme taskforces since April 2022, meeting the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 by April 2025 in half the time.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been dismissed for (a) supplying and (b) transporting drugs in prison in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs conveyed into prisons and take appropriate action in respect of the small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100m Security Investment Programme (SIP), aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Our £100 million Security Investment Programme aimed to improve security with a focus on technology, such as X-ray body scanners. This aimed to improve our ability to detect and disrupt drugs from entering prisons, supported by enhancements to intelligence and counter corruption capabilities.
Over the last few years, we have continued to increase in capacity and deliver our counter-corruption strategy. Through the £100m SIP investment over 100 new staff were also recruited into the Counter-Corruption Unit. This includes regional Prevent teams dedicated to building staff resilience through training, awareness raising and individual support.
Given the investment and measures outlined above, the increase in instances outlined below may reflect better detecting and reporting of drugs conveyance, as opposed to an increase in activity.
*Prison Officer (and PCO) Conveyance of Drugs 2019- Dec 2023 | |
Year | Amount |
2019 | 10 |
2020 | 19 |
2021 | 16 |
2022 | 21 |
2023 | 21 |
Source: Linkspace Case Management System.
Notes:
Linkspace is the Counter Corruption Unit’s (CCU) Case Management System used to record and track cases linked to corruption.
Data provided by the Counter Corruption (CCU) have the following Caveats applied below;
1) Prior to April 2019, corruption in HMPPS was managed by the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU). The CPU was a largely centralised unit focused on sanitising and disseminating all corruption related intelligence to the Police, with an individual Regional Corruption
Prevention Manager (RCPM) in each geographical region offering advice and support to prisons in managing corruption, hence data prior to April 2019 is not available.
2) ‘Supplying and transporting’ of drugs in a prison falls under the definition of ‘conveyance of drugs’ and recorded on the CCU’s Case Management System to cases linked to drugs related offences.
3) Data includes Prison Custodial Officer (PCO) and they are the equivalent to a Prison Officer in a privately run establishment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle the sale of unlicensed drugs online.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Drugs ruin lives and devastate communities. The Government is committed to driving down drugs supply in the UK through tough law enforcement against the sale of drugs online, including on the dark web.
We are clear that tech companies must take responsibility for embedding public safety in their system designs in order to prevent harmful material on their platforms. We expect tech companies to have robust processes in place to swiftly remove illegal content.
Our Online Safety Act will introduce measures requiring platforms to remove content relating to the sale of drugs online. This ground-breaking piece of legislation will compel tech companies to consider the risks associated with all elements of their services and take action to keep users safe. This means that tech companies must proactively tackle this type of content from their platforms and prevent users from being exposed to it. If they fail to comply, they risk stiff financial penalties or in the most serious cases, having their sites blocked by the independent regulator, Ofcom. The Online Safety Act delivers the government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. The Act is a vital piece of legislation, designed to ensure that tech companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users, particularly children.
We work closely with the National Crime Agency, which in partnership with policing colleagues across the UK and internationally is mapping and targeting key offenders operating online, including the dark net markets. Dedicated teams use a range of tools and techniques generally unavailable to most investigators and we make sure they have the resources and powers they need to keep our country safe.
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.
We recognise that gangs are increasingly using social media to sell drugs and exploit vulnerable people to help move their illicit commodities. Through the County Lines Programme, we are developing a better understanding of how these platforms are being used and how to disrupt them.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Discretionary Friday/pre-Bank Holiday Release Scheme Policy Framework, last updated on 8 December 2023, how many offenders with scheduled release dates between 22 and 26 December 2023 were released on (a) 20 and (b) 21 December 2023 under the terms of that framework, by each offence committed by those offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This policy created a presumption that all offenders due for release on a Friday or the day before a bank/public holiday will be eligible for release up to two working days earlier unless exceptional circumstances apply.
It addresses the practical challenges posed by Friday releases in order for offenders to turn their back on crime. Releasing offenders earlier in the week will help them to access the key services that they need, such as drugs rehabilitation and mental health support. This better enables stable and law-abiding resettlement, reducing their risk of reoffending and ensuring public protection is maintained.
For the adult estate, data covering prisoner releases in December under this policy forms a subset of data planned for release in the regular Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication, and therefore the Department is not able to provide the requested information at this time.
The Youth Custody Service holds this data for the Children and Young People Secure Estate which shows fewer than 5 children or young people were due for release between 22nd and 26th December. Data suppression rules (in this case numbers of individuals fewer than 5) in place to protect the anonymity of individuals prevent disclosure of the exact figure and offence type. However, all those children or young people due for release within the period were released in accordance with policy on December 20.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken with Cabinet colleagues to tackle increases in the use of nitazenes (a) nationally and (b) in the South East England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to monitor the use of nitazenes and other synthetic opioids and has taken action to tackle the threat they pose. In July 2023, a National Patient Safety Alert was issued to the National Health Service and others, warning of potent synthetic opioids implicated in heroin overdoses and deaths and actions that local areas should take. The Department of Health and Social Care is a core member of the cross-government Task Force to develop mitigations to the synthetic opioids threat. Membership of the task force also includes the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, National Crime Agency, HM Prisons and Probation Service, Border Force and the police. As part of those mitigations, the Department of Health and Social Care is accelerating its work to expand access to naloxone and developing a drugs surveillance and early warning system.
The Government is investing £780 million nationally between 2022/23 and 2024/25 through drug strategy funding to improve drug treatment and recovery systems which will focus on increasing the numbers in treatment for opiate use.
In the South East specifically, an additional £43.7 million has been allocated via the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant and £3.3 million for the Inpatient Detoxification Grant to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems, totalling £47m. The following tables show indicative funding allocations for these grants for each area in the South East:
Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
Bracknell Forest | £144,526 | £147,375 | £206,039 | £497,940 |
Brighton and Hove | £1,142,490 | £1,872,323 | £3,613,294 | £6,628,107 |
Buckinghamshire | £339,114 | £345,800 | £584,638 | £1,269,552 |
East Sussex | £391,085 | £1,741,085 | £2,028,218 | £4,160,388 |
Hampshire | £802,715 | £818,541 | £1,541,380 | £3,162,636 |
Isle of Wight | £275,155 | £280,580 | £417,554 | £973,290 |
Kent | £1,101,719 | £2,202,986 | £3,615,400 | £6,920,105 |
Medway | £389,709 | £418,172 | £686,277 | £1,494,159 |
Oxfordshire | £622,452 | £634,724 | £1,136,228 | £2,393,403 |
Portsmouth | £503,741 | £825,535 | £1,593,156 | £2,922,432 |
Reading | £413,221 | £469,761 | £770,942 | £1,653,924 |
Slough | £266,434 | £271,687 | £277,256 | £815,378 |
Southampton | £654,506 | £1,072,611 | £2,069,974 | £3,797,091 |
Surrey | £721,703 | £735,933 | £1,500,381 | £2,958,017 |
West Berkshire | £184,055 | £187,684 | £220,527 | £592,265 |
West Sussex | £665,692 | £678,817 | £1,306,719 | £2,651,228 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | £164,752 | £168,000 | £240,617 | £573,368 |
Wokingham | £83,007 | £84,644 | £144,184 | £311,835 |
Total | £8,866,076 | £12,956,258 | £21,952,784 | £43,775,118 |
Inpatient Detoxification Grant | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
Bracknell Forest | £13,809 | £13,809 | £13,809 | £41,427 |
Brighton and Hove | £96,016 | £96,016 | £96,016 | £288,048 |
Buckinghamshire | £44,258 | £44,258 | £44,258 | £132,774 |
East Sussex | £72,422 | £72,422 | £72,422 | £217,266 |
Hampshire | £121,199 | £121,199 | £121,199 | £363,597 |
Isle of Wight | £22,750 | £22,750 | £22,750 | £68,250 |
Kent | £167,295 | £167,295 | £167,295 | £501,885 |
Medway | £37,006 | £37,006 | £37,006 | £111,018 |
Oxfordshire | £96,612 | £96,612 | £96,612 | £289,836 |
Portsmouth | £48,132 | £48,132 | £48,132 | £144,396 |
Reading | £41,625 | £41,625 | £41,625 | £124,875 |
Slough | £23,991 | £23,991 | £23,991 | £71,973 |
Southampton | £58,364 | £58,364 | £58,364 | £175,092 |
Surrey | £106,099 | £106,099 | £106,099 | £318,297 |
West Berkshire | £16,392 | £16,392 | £16,392 | £49,176 |
West Sussex | £96,214 | £96,214 | £96,214 | £288,642 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | £17,335 | £17,335 | £17,335 | £52,005 |
Wokingham | £9,686 | £9,686 | £9,686 | £29,058 |
Total | £1,089,205 | £1,089,205 | £1,089,205 | £3,287,837 |
Further details of funding allocations for individual local authority areas are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extra-funding-for-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-2024-to-2025
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to tackle the (a) importation, (b) manufacture, (c) sale and (d) distribution of nitazenes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In December 2021, the Government launched its ten-year drug strategy, From Harm to Hope, to cut crime and save lives. As part of this, £300 million has been allocated to fund activity to break drugs supply chains from end-to-end, this includes restricting upstream flow, securing the UK border, and ensuring we remain agile in the face of changing threats.
The NCA, the Police and Border Force are delivering a robust multi-agency response to detections of nitazenes, ensuring lines of enquiry are prioritised and vigorously pursued to stem any supply of illicit synthetic opioids to and within the UK. This approach sends a clear message to serious and organised criminals that supply of these dangerous substances will not be tolerated in the UK.
We have also established a cross-Government Taskforce to lead and co-ordinate the UK’s strategic response to the risk from synthetic opioids. Members include the Home Office, the Department for Health and Social Care, Ministry of Justice, National Crime Agency, HM Prisons and Probation Service, Border Force and the police.
The Government recently laid a draft affirmative Order in November 2023 to control 20 substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, including 14 nitazenes as Class A drugs. This will likely come into force in March. The maximum sentence for possession or supply of a Class A drug is up to life imprisonment, a fine, or both.
On 15 December 2023, the ACMD recommended an updated generic definition for nitazene variants. The Government will respond to this recommendation shortly.
Additionally, through the Criminal Justice Bill, we are introducing new powers for the police to take action against criminals who intend to use pill presses and encapsulators to manufacture illicit drugs like nitazenes and other synthetic opioids.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the volume of illegal drugs found in prisons between (a) 2014 and 2018 and (b) 2019 and 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of incidents where drugs are found in prisons in England and Wales is published in the HMPPS Annual Digest through the incidents data tool.
a) Between April 2013 and March 2018, there were 44,206 drug find incidents in prisons in England and Wales.
b) Between April 2018 and March 2023, there were 92,619 drug find incidents in prisons in England and Wales.
Data for April to December 2023 is not included because it is subject to future publication as part of the 2023-24 Annual Digest.
It is important to consider with incidents of drug finds in prisons, that an increase in numbers may be as a result of more items being found, rather than more items being present in prisons. Our £100 million Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2023, we have recorded 46,925 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs and other contraband into prisons.
Our £100m Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2023, we have recorded 46,925 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs and other contraband into prisons.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has set targets for the (a) reduction of (i) drug and (ii) alcohol use and (b) number of people receiving treatment for related addictions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published a 10-year drug strategy in December 2021 which sets out three core priorities: cutting off drug supply, creating a world class treatment and recovery system, and achieving a generational shift in demand for drugs. The strategy aims to reduce crime, drug related deaths, harm, and overall drug use and is backed by significant new investment. The Government has invested an additional £780 million in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, of which £532 million is dedicated to rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The drug strategy includes a specific target of getting 54,500 more people in drug and alcohol treatment between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Success is being measured against a system of local and national outcomes frameworks. More information on the strategy is available at the following link:
Delivery of the drugs strategy is a cross-government priority; the Joint Combatting Drugs Unit (JCDU) is a cross-Government team, based in the Home Office, that was set up to coordinate the drug strategy delivery across all relevant Government departments. The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the JCDU to work to achieve the aims of the drug strategy.
No specific targets have been set for the reduction of alcohol use in England; however, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. According to the 2021 Health Survey for England, around 80% of adults in England drink within these guidelines. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of acute hospitals in England with the greatest need. These specialist teams identify alcohol dependent patients admitted to hospital for any reason, start them on specialist treatment as inpatients, and facilitate them into community-based substance misuse treatment upon discharge.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve coordination on reducing drug and alcohol harms.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published a 10-year drug strategy in December 2021 which sets out three core priorities: cutting off drug supply, creating a world class treatment and recovery system, and achieving a generational shift in demand for drugs. The strategy aims to reduce crime, drug related deaths, harm, and overall drug use and is backed by significant new investment. The Government has invested an additional £780 million in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, of which £532 million is dedicated to rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The drug strategy includes a specific target of getting 54,500 more people in drug and alcohol treatment between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Success is being measured against a system of local and national outcomes frameworks. More information on the strategy is available at the following link:
Delivery of the drugs strategy is a cross-government priority; the Joint Combatting Drugs Unit (JCDU) is a cross-Government team, based in the Home Office, that was set up to coordinate the drug strategy delivery across all relevant Government departments. The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the JCDU to work to achieve the aims of the drug strategy.
No specific targets have been set for the reduction of alcohol use in England; however, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. According to the 2021 Health Survey for England, around 80% of adults in England drink within these guidelines. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of acute hospitals in England with the greatest need. These specialist teams identify alcohol dependent patients admitted to hospital for any reason, start them on specialist treatment as inpatients, and facilitate them into community-based substance misuse treatment upon discharge.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support people with (a) drug and (b) alcohol addictions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published a 10-year drug strategy in December 2021 which sets out three core priorities: cutting off drug supply, creating a world class treatment and recovery system, and achieving a generational shift in demand for drugs. The strategy aims to reduce crime, drug related deaths, harm, and overall drug use and is backed by significant new investment. The Government has invested an additional £780 million in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, of which £532 million is dedicated to rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The drug strategy includes a specific target of getting 54,500 more people in drug and alcohol treatment between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Success is being measured against a system of local and national outcomes frameworks. More information on the strategy is available at the following link:
Delivery of the drugs strategy is a cross-government priority; the Joint Combatting Drugs Unit (JCDU) is a cross-Government team, based in the Home Office, that was set up to coordinate the drug strategy delivery across all relevant Government departments. The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the JCDU to work to achieve the aims of the drug strategy.
No specific targets have been set for the reduction of alcohol use in England; however, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. According to the 2021 Health Survey for England, around 80% of adults in England drink within these guidelines. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of acute hospitals in England with the greatest need. These specialist teams identify alcohol dependent patients admitted to hospital for any reason, start them on specialist treatment as inpatients, and facilitate them into community-based substance misuse treatment upon discharge.