Written question asked by Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 7 December 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 December 2000. It was answered by Charles Clarke (Labour) on Monday, 18 December 2000 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans the Government has to audit the costs of enforcing the law relating to illegal drugs. - Includes figure and ref to Cm 4807. (Holding answer 13 December 2000).

Answer: Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have to audit the costs of enforcing the law relating to illegal drugs. [142212] Mr. Charles Clarke: [holding answer 13 December, 2000]: Assessing the costs of anti-drugs activities is inherently difficult because these often form part of wider functional service expenditure. For instance, up to one third of all property crime is thought to be drugs related, imposing a considerable burden on the Criminal Justice System. Broad assessment of the costs imposed by illegal abuse on public services and the proactive measures centred on tackling their root causes were made in the 2000 Spending review. Indicative spending totals for the latter were published in the Spending Review White Paper (Cm 4807). The Government are committed to improving their understanding of these totals. As part of its Service Delivery Agreement, the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for the United Kingdom Anti Drugs Co-ordination Unit, will implement a robust system for tracking total anti-drugs related expenditure and outputs by March 2002 and demonstrate that by March 2004 there will have been a 45 per cent. increase in spend on proactive effort on a 2000-01 base.

Secondary information