Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 November 1996. It was answered by Tom Sackville (Conservative) on Monday, 11 November 1996 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: What new proposals he has to improve the accuracy of illegal drug use statistics. - (Holding answer 5 November 1996).

Answer: Mr. Flynn: To ask Secretary of State for the Home Department what new proposals he has to improve the accuracy of illegal drug use statistics. [2466] Mr. Sackville: [holding answer 5 November 1996]: Information on drug seizure and offenders, collected from police and customs, and statistics of drug addicts notified to the Home Office are published annually. The accuracy of drug seizure statistics is being continually improved by, for example, direct collection of figures from regional crime squads and automatic data interchange from police forces. Dug offender figures will also be collected by ADI via the court appearances system. Additionally, we have developed a more accurate way of measuring the extent of drug misuse in the general population which involves taking a large representative sample of adults and asking them to report on their own drug misuse. The Department of Health issued guidance to the national health service in July 1996 on managing regional drug misuse database services.

Secondary information