Written question asked by David Burrowes (Conservative) on Thursday, 27 April 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 2 May 2006. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reasons are for the differences between figures given in the England and Wales Findings Paper 265 and the latest Home Office Drug Seizures and Offenders Statistical bulletin in relation to seizures of methadone in 2000 and cocaine and heroin in 2001.

Answer: After a very thorough review of data, I can confirm that the figures quoted in ““Seizures of Drugs in England and Wales 2003”” (Findings 265) for the number of seizures of methadone in 2000 (1,010) and both number/quantity of seizures of cocaine (6,530/5,210 kg) and heroin (14,630/4,000 kg) in 2001 are correct.Seizures data for Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise published in ““Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, UK, 2001 and 2002”” (Home. Office Statistical Bulletin 08/04) were restricted to seizures at the London airports. However, data presented in Findings 265 were for all Customs' seizures in England and Wales. While the number of seizures were largely unaffected, it resulted in increased overall figures for the quantity of drugs seized.The figure quoted in Findings 265 for the quantity of methadone seized in 2000 (380 kg) is, however, incorrect. Police in England and Wales seized 91.585 kg of methadone in 2000, with Customs seizing 0.68 kg as well as 284 tablets. For the purposes of reporting the tablets should not have been included in the Findings' tables. The revised total quantity figure is 92.265 kg, which will be rounded down to 90 kg in the next ““Seizures of Drugs in England and Wales”” Home Office Statistical Bulletin.

Secondary information