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Written question asked by John Penrose (Conservative) on Thursday, 19 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 January 2006. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Monday, 6 February 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Substance Abuse Offences

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests, (b) convictions and (c) cautions there were in the Avon and Somerset police authority area for offences relating to (i) the possession and (ii) dealing in class (A) A, (B) B and (C) C drugs in each year since 1997.
Answer

The Home Office does not currently collate data on the number of arrests for separate classes of drug offences. We do however have data on the number of people found guilty and cautioned under the Misuse of Drugs Act.The number of people who have been found guilty for possession and dealing offences in Avon and Somerset in each year since 1997 is shown in the following tables.

Table 1: The number of people found guilty for possession and dealing offences
Class A Class B Class C
Possession Dealing Possession Dealing Possession Dealing
1997 321 111 124 27 328 80
1998 343 118 105 22 423 109
1999 332 137 105 22 502 73
2000 330 135 119 21 552 85
2001 289 107 115 22 482 57
2002 263 137 70 11 482 57
2003 252 167 70 11 508 63
2004 265 151 75 8 327 59
Note: Cannabis was reclassified to a class C drug in January 2004. For the purpose of this exercise.
(38) Street warnings were introduced in April 2004.
Table 2: The number of people cautioned for possession and dealing offences
Class A Class B Class C
Possession Dealing Possession Dealing Possession Dealing
1997 126 4 3 1 460 28
1998 152 5 5 2 868 11
1999 206 13 1 0 965 9
2000 183 8 0 0 710 9
2001 131 9 0 1 856 9
2002 172 5 4 0 990 18
2003 206 1 8 2 953 12
2004 236 0 8 2 392 7
Note: Cannabis was reclassified to a class C drug in January 2004. For the purpose of this exercise.
(39) Street warnings were introduced in April 2004.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
442 c961W;442 c961W; 45251
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Abuse Convictions Avon Drugs Misuse Somerset Avon and Somerset Police Authority
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk