Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the numbers of deaths from misuse of heroin and morphine in (a) coastal communities and (b) Portsmouth.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning drug prevention, treatment and harm reduction services to meet these needs. This includes helping to prevent drug-related deaths from the misuse of heroin and morphine in coastal communities. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities to do this by providing advice, guidance and tools.
Locally, PHE is supporting the South East substance misuse network, which includes Portsmouth, to review a range of opportunities to prevent drug misuse deaths including engaging more people at risk in treatment, improving the physical and mental wellbeing of people in treatment, improving access to naloxone, developing local arrangements for reviewing deaths and near misses, and developing drug alert and early warning systems.
Nationally, the Department and PHE have made it easier for drug services to supply naloxone, published updated clinical guidelines for drug treatment and worked with a network of treatment providers to establish good practice guidance on managing drug-related death risk factors and to improve partnership between treatment providers and other healthcare services. Updated clinical guidelines can be viewed at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to make an assessment of the effectiveness of out of court disposals for shop theft; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We recognise that shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It causes cost and disruption to businesses, as well as damage to communities and consumers. We encourage all victims, including shop workers, to report these crimes to the police so that they can be recorded and dealt with accordingly.
A report by the Centre for Social Justice issued last year concluded that people addicted to heroin and crack cocaine account for 70% of shop thefts. We are committed to ensuring the most vulnerable offenders, including those with drug addictions, are able to access support at the right time. This includes diverting offenders away from custody where appropriate.
Out of Court Disposals are one important tool available in addressing shop theft – they allow the police to deal quickly and proportionately with low-level offending. Where an Out of Court Disposal is appropriate, we encourage the use of disposals which have a condition attached (be that rehabilitative, reparative, punitive or restrictive). This can achieve rapid compensation and/or divert vulnerable offenders with substance misuse or mental health issues into rehabilitative services to address the root causes of their offending behaviour.
We pay attention to trends and changes in the use of Out of Court Disposals on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to review the use of Out Of Court Disposals for shop theft; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We recognise that shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It causes cost and disruption to businesses, as well as damage to communities and consumers. We encourage all victims, including shop workers, to report these crimes to the police so that they can be recorded and dealt with accordingly.
A report by the Centre for Social Justice issued last year concluded that people addicted to heroin and crack cocaine account for 70% of shop thefts. We are committed to ensuring the most vulnerable offenders, including those with drug addictions, are able to access support at the right time. This includes diverting offenders away from custody where appropriate.
Out of Court Disposals are one important tool available in addressing shop theft – they allow the police to deal quickly and proportionately with low-level offending. Where an Out of Court Disposal is appropriate, we encourage the use of disposals which have a condition attached (be that rehabilitative, reparative, punitive or restrictive). This can achieve rapid compensation and/or divert offenders into rehabilitative services to address the root causes of their offending behaviour.
We pay attention to trends and changes in the use of Out of Court Disposals on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will support the provision of heroin-assisted treatment services throughout England.
Answered by Steve Brine
Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT) can be an effective way of treating individuals for whom other opioid substitutes have not been effective. This is an option open to local areas under the existing legal framework. Given that funding decisions on drug and alcohol treatment have been devolved, it is for local areas to decide whether to commission HAT services based on an assessment of local need.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so, when, they have asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs whether synthetic cannabinoids should be reclassified as Category A drugs in view of the serious physical and psychological effects such drugs have on users and in order to be able to deal with those who supply such drugs with the same severity as those who supply heroin and other Category A drugs.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This month, the Government commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (‘ACMD’) to provide an updated assessment of the harms of synthetic cannabinoids. This assessment will include consideration of whether the current classification of synthetic cannabinoids under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is appropriate. The advice has been requested by summer 2020.
The commission has been included as part of the longer-term review on cannabis-based products for medicinal use and is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use-in-humans-commission-to-the-acmd
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of previous offences for theft from a shop or stall was for a person convicted of a further offence of theft from a shop or stall who was not given a sentence of immediate custody in each of the last three years; and what the sentence was for the most recent offence in each such case.
Answered by Rory Stewart
A report by the Centre for Social Justice issued last year concluded that people addicted to heroin and crack cocaine account for 70% of shop thefts. MoJ is committed to ensuring the most vulnerable offenders, including those with drug addictions, are able to access appropriate support at the right time. This includes diverting offenders away from custody where appropriate.
Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Data on the highest number of previous shoplifting offences for a person convicted of a shoplifting offence who was not given an immediate custodial sentence, and the sentence given in each such case, as well as data on the highest number of previous shoplifting offences for a person who received their first immediate custodial sentence for a shoplifting offence, covering the period year ending September 2016 – year ending September 2018, can be viewed in the table.
There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of total previous offences for shoplifting a person committed before being given an immediate custodial sentence for that crime in each of the last three years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
A report by the Centre for Social Justice issued last year concluded that people addicted to heroin and crack cocaine account for 70% of shop thefts. MoJ is committed to ensuring the most vulnerable offenders, including those with drug addictions, are able to access appropriate support at the right time. This includes diverting offenders away from custody where appropriate.
Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.
Data on the highest number of previous shoplifting offences for a person convicted of a shoplifting offence who was not given an immediate custodial sentence, and the sentence given in each such case, as well as data on the highest number of previous shoplifting offences for a person who received their first immediate custodial sentence for a shoplifting offence, covering the period year ending September 2016 – year ending September 2018, can be viewed in the table.
There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the level of seizures required to put a successful drug trafficker of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) cannabis and (d) ecstasy out of business.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The level of seizures required putting a successful drug trafficker of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) cannabis and (d) ecstasy out of business is impossible to estimate.
There are a number of variables which can affect the impact of disruptive activity.
Such variables include the type of commodity seized, for example drugs or cash/assets, the size and influence of a particular drug trafficking business and the roles of those arrested and convicted as a result of any seizure.
The Home Office recognises that disruption is not the only method for targeting SOC activity. The SOC strategy which was published in November 2018 outlines a set of capabilities which are designed to respond to the full range of serious and organised crime threats, including those posed by drug traffickers.
It highlights our four overarching objectives to achieve our aim:
1. Relentlessly disrupt and target action against highest harm and serious and organised criminal networks
2. Build the highest levels of defence and resilience in vulnerable people, communities, business and systems
3. Stop the problem at source, identifying and supporting those at risk of engaging in criminality
4. Establish a single whole-system approach, expanding our global reach and pooling skills and expertise with the private sector
In taking this approach, we aim to protect our citizens and our prosperity by leaving no safe space for serious and organised criminals to operate against us.
Asked by: Paul Sweeney (Labour (Co-op) - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191442 on Diamorphine: Glasgow, what the guidelines are on chronic heroin addiction treatment plans as a condition of his Department permitting a diamorphine prescribing licence to local authorities.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The issue of ‘prescriber’ licences was devolved to the Scottish Ministers in 2012. The timeline for a decision on any prescriber licence or any conditions to be assigned to that licence are matters for Scottish Government.
Any controlled drugs licenses required by the organisation at a specific premises to possess and supply controlled drugs are a matter for the Home Office.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the supply of (a) cannabis, (b) heroin, (c) cocaine and (d) ecstasy that was seized in each year since 2008.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In the annual ‘Seizures of Drugs in England and Wales’ publication (which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales), the total amounts of cannabis, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy seized in each year are provided. However, no estimate has been made of the proportion of the total supply which such seizures represent.
The Home Office does not hold information on the total amount of drugs imported into the UK in each year. (ii) Estimates on the prevalence and frequency of drug use in England and Wales are published in in the annual ‘Drug Misuse’ publication (which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/drug-misuse-declared), but not on the total quantity of drugs consumed each year.
In a 2013 Home Office report ‘Understanding Organised Crime’ (which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246390/horr73.pdf), the value of the illicit supply of various categories of drugs were estimated, which include heroin, cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy. The methodology can be found in Annex 2 of the report.