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Written question asked by Humfrey Malins (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 January 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Wednesday, 6 February 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Drugs: Arrests

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of persons found in possession of a class C drug for the first time were (a) cautioned and (b) charged with an offence in the area covered by the Metropolitan Police in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answer

Information covering the number of offenders cautioned by the police and proceeded against at magistrates' courts in 2006 for offences relating to the possession of a class C drug in the Metropolitan Police force area, is provided in the following table.It is not possible to separately identify from the information held by my Department whether the offenders were cautioned or proceeded against for the first time.Information on charging is not reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Number of offenders cautioned and defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts for offences in relation to the possession of a class C drug, Metropolitan police force area 2006¹
Offence Offenders cautioned Defendants proceeded against
Possession of a class C drug 5,040 4,049
Possession of a class C drug with intent to supply 193 493
Total 5,233 4,542
¹ These data are on the principal offence basis. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Court proceedings database - Office For Criminal Justice Reform - Ministry of Justice.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
471 c1216W;471 c1212W; 178107
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Arrests Greater London Drugs
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk