On 3 April 2013 we launched a review into the use of cautions which will focus on the use of cautions for serious offences and persistent offenders. Among other things, the review will examine whether there are some offences for which the use of simple cautions is generally inappropriate, the reasons why multiple cautions are given to some criminals and the difference in the use of cautions by police force areas. The review is a significant step to ensuring that cautions are used correctly, in the interests of justice, and command the confidence of the public. The review will be completed by the end of May 2013.

Those guilty of drug possession offences are more likely to face court than they were five years ago. The number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of possession of drugs offences, with cannabis possession

offences shown separately, in England and Wales, from 1984 to 2011 (latest data available), can be viewed in the tables.

It is not possible to separately identify from centrally held information the number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of possession of cannabis prior to 1993 and the number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of all possession of drug offences prior to 1984. Further, it is not possible to separately identify from centrally held information the number of offenders cautioned for possession of drug offences in the years 1987 and 1988, as all drug related offences were recorded under a single offence category for those two years.

Court proceedings and cautions data for 2012 are planned for publication in May 2013.

On 3 April 2013 we launched a review into the use of cautions which will focus on the use of cautions for serious offences and persistent offenders. Among other things, the review will examine whether there are some offences for which the use of simple cautions is generally inappropriate, the reasons why multiple cautions are given to some criminals and the difference in the use of cautions by police force areas. The review is a significant step to ensuring that cautions are used correctly, in the interests of justice, and command the confidence of the public. The review will be completed by the end of May 2013.

Those guilty of drug possession offences are more likely to face court than they were five years ago. The number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of possession of drugs offences, with cannabis possession

offences shown separately, in England and Wales, from 1984 to 2011 (latest data available), can be viewed in the tables.

It is not possible to separately identify from centrally held information the number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of possession of cannabis prior to 1993 and the number of offenders cautioned for and found guilty of all possession of drug offences prior to 1984. Further, it is not possible to separately identify from centrally held information the number of offenders cautioned for possession of drug offences in the years 1987 and 1988, as all drug related offences were recorded under a single offence category for those two years.

Court proceedings and cautions data for 2012 are planned for publication in May 2013.

The following tables contain the sum of the estimated alcohol attributable fractions (AAFs) for admissions for Peterborough constituency, Cambridgeshire primary care trust (PCT) of residence, East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) of residence and England (residence) for the years 2007-08 to 2011-12.

It should be noted that a Parliamentary constituency breakdown is not possible before 2008-09.

It is not possible to make an assessment of such admissions compared to UK averages; only England figures can be provided for comparison.

It should be noted that these figures are not a count of people and represent an estimated number of admissions that were attributable to alcohol.

AAFs are based on the proportion of a given diagnosis or injury that is estimated to be attributed to alcohol. Some diagnoses or injuries will, by definition, be wholly attributable to alcohol and have an AAF of one; others will only be partly attributable to alcohol and have an AAF greater than zero, but less than one. Diagnoses or injuries that are not attributable at all to alcohol will have an AAF of zero.

These figures are derived by summing all AAFs for the relevant admissions and should therefore be interpreted only as an estimate of the number of admissions that can be attributed to alcohol.

Table 1 shows the number of children, aged under 18, who died while being looked after by local authorities in England for the year 2003 to 2012.

However, the Department does not collect information on either the cause of death or any other factors involved. Information is not therefore available on the number of those deaths investigated by the police or the number which were a result of overdosing of illegal drugs.

Information is also available on the number of child death reviews which were completed for children who were the subject of a statutory order at the time of the death. These figures are shown in table 2 for the year 2011 and 2012; figures are not available for years prior to this.

The Department for Education does not explicitly fund drug education. School pupils are currently provided with education on the physiological effects of drugs as part of the statutory National Curriculum Programmes of Study for science. They may also receive wider drugs education as part of non-statutory personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education.

The FRANK service provides information and advice to young people about drugs. The Home Office, Department of Health and Department for Education work together to support the service. Funding is not allocated to advertising the risks associated with specific classes of drugs.

The Government's Alcohol Strategy, published on 23 March 2012, brings together the Government's approach to reducing the incidence of alcohol-related disease and crime.

The strategy includes a range of actions such as:

proposals to tackle the availability of cheap alcohol;

an industry pledge through the responsibility deal to take 1 billion units out of the market by 2015;

building on the introduction of a ring—fenced public health grant to local authorities in England through greater use of brief interventions, specialised alcohol treatment, and alcohol liaison nurses within hospital emergency departments; and

in England, we are funding an alcohol check within the NHS Health Check for adults aged between 40 and 74 for the first time from April 2013.

The Government sought views on a number of measures set out in the Alcohol Strategy, in a consultation published by the Home Office on 28 November, which concluded on 6 February. We will set out a response in due course.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, will oversee a review of the alcohol guidelines to ensure they are based on the best possible evidence.

Public Health England (PHE) is the new Executive agency of the Department of Health with the role of supporting local authorities responsible for public health. PHE will provide data, evidence and support to local authorities and national health service partners to enable them to reduce the harmful impact from alcohol in local communities.

PHE will also encourage greater use of effective interventions, such as brief interventions, alcohol interventions in secondary NHS care and the treatment of dependent drinkers.

This information is not held centrally.

The information in the following table has been provided by NHS Blood and Transplant. This table shows the number of liver transplants where the reason given for transplantation is ‘alcoholic liver disease’. The table also includes information where ‘alcoholic liver disease’ is the secondary and tertiary disease for liver transplantation, however in these cases the primary disease is recorded as Hepatitis C. The table also includes four cases where patients have received a combined liver and kidney transplant as this is, on occasion, considered beneficial.

The following table shows the number of instances in each financial year since 2008-09 where a full OASys assessment undertaken for an offender at the start of a community sentence, suspended sentence or period on licence supervised by the probation service has identified mental health issues, learning difficulties or criminogenic needs linked to drug or alcohol misuse.

In the following table “Mental Health Issues” includes offenders assessed as having current psychological problems and/or current psychiatric issues.

Information is provided on a financial year basis. The latest data available are for 2011-12.

The above figures have been produced from data on completed OASys assessments, held centrally by the National Offender Management Service.

A full OASys assessment is not required with all offenders. OASys data should not therefore be read as representative of the entire probation case load and care should be taken in generalising the results.

The data are drawn from administrative IT systems and the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale assessment and recording system. Several quality assurance procedures are in place to ensure the data produced is accurate and reliable.

From April 2013, upper tier and unitary local authorities have received a ring-fenced public health grant. This includes funding for alcohol misuse prevention and treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has produced evidence-based guidance on alcohol treatment and a quality standard, Alcohol Dependence and Harmful Alcohol Use, enabling local commissioners to ensure the services they commission are evidence-based.

We are committed to the full use of existing drug control, consumer protection and medicines legislation to disrupt the sale of new psychoactive substances (NPS) advertised for sale as 'legal high' products in UK communities and online.

We know that these products often contain a range of substances which include controlled drugs. UK law enforcement have powers available to detain and seize products which they suspect may contain controlled substances.

Action to restrict drug supply, including illegal NPS, is a priority for law enforcement and the Home Office is working closely with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Border Force and the police to develop new approaches to identify importers, distributors and sellers of NPS. This activity includes action to close websites advertising illegal NPS; the creation of a multi-agency working group to identify and tackle the trade in NPS by organised criminals; ongoing development of a national intelligence picture; and the publication of Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) practice guidance on NPS for the police.

The Government's Alcohol Strategy, published on 23 March 2012, brings together the Government's approach to reducing the incidence of alcohol-related disease and crime.

The Strategy includes a range of actions such as:

proposals to tackle the availability of cheap alcohol;

an industry pledge through the Responsibility Deal to take one billion units out of the market by 2015;

building on the introduction of a ring-fenced public health grant to local authorities in England through greater use of brief interventions, specialised alcohol treatment, and alcohol liaison nurses within hospital emergency departments; and

in England, we are funding an alcohol check within the NHS Health Check for adults aged between 40 and 74 for the first time from April 2013.

The Government sought views on a number of measures set out in the Alcohol Strategy, in a consultation published by the Home Office on 28 November, which concluded on 6 February. We will set out a response in due course.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, will oversee a review of the alcohol guidelines to ensure they are based on the best possible evidence. This will include consideration of health risks from alcohol consumption for women.

Anna Soubry: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a suite of drug treatment guidelines published between 2007 and 2008 which highlighted a range of evidence-based interventions which can help people recover from drug-dependence. NICE guidance represents best practice and we expect commissioners and clinicians to take it fully into account in their decision-making.

The 2010 Drug Strategy recognised that "Recovery can only be delivered through working with education, training, employment, housing, family support services, wider health services and, where relevant, prison, probation and youth justice services to address the needs of the whole person."

The Department tasked a Recovery Orientated Drug Treatment Expert Group led by Professor John Strang (National Addiction Centre) to look at how to meet the ambition of the 2010 Drug Strategy to help more heroin users to recover and break free of dependence. Their 2012 report, “Medications in recovery: Re-orientating drug dependence treatment” makes clear that heroin users should not be maintained on substitute drugs, such as methadone, without regular review. It also sets out practical steps that local areas can take to increase the recovery orientation of their local treatment systems.

Community pharmacies play an integral role in local drug treatment systems by dispensing opioid substitute medicines such as methadone and sterile needles and syringes. Together these interventions are a proven way to keep blood borne viruses rates relatively low among injecting drug users. Independent research has shown that introducing supervised methadone dosing (where a pharmacist oversees the consumption of opioid substitute medicines) was followed by substantial declines in related overdose deaths.

Drug treatment encompasses a range of treatments and services which help people overcome their dependency and reduce the physical and psychological harms caused by drugs to themselves, their families and communities. So although community pharmacies dispensing methadone are an important part of any drug treatment system, it is difficult to isolate its particular effectiveness in reducing drug dependence.

However we know that overall the drug treatment system is helping more and more people to overcome their addiction. The latest drug treatment figures show that 29,855 successfully completed their treatment in 2011-12, compared with 11,208 in 2005-06.

It is the role of each responsible clinician to decide which drug is clinically most appropriate for the treatment for opioid dependence following careful assessment of, and discussion with each client. It expected that these decisions should be in line with clinical guidance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommended the use of both methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence, but made clear the need for clinicians, to make sure that each patient is aware of all the risks associated with this treatment, both to themselves and to others.

Clinical guidelines for drug treatment recommend that most new patients being prescribed methadone or buprenorphine should take their daily doses supervised

by a pharmacist (or other professional) for around three months. One of the key reasons for this practice is to reduce diversion of substitute drugs into the illegal market. It has also been shown to reduce drug-related deaths. The responsible clinician can decide to relax, stop, or re-start supervised consumption depending on their patient's progress in tackling their drug dependency.

The Government remains committed to using the best available evidence. In addition to the advice provided by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), we liaise with relevant research councils to encourage the funding of new research. Individual Government Departments take responsibility for gathering the evidence needed to inform their policies, drawing on the specific expertise from within the Departments and from outside. This work is brought together through the cross-government Drug Strategy Research Group.

Our approach is working. Drug usage remains at its lowest level since measurement began in 1996 and people going into treatment today are more likely to free themselves from dependency than ever before.

The Government has agreed to undertake an international study to examine different approaches to drug policy in other countries, including Portugal, and we are committed to evaluating the long-term effectiveness and value for money of the Drug Strategy 2010.

The Government remains committed to using the best available evidence. In addition to the advice provided by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), we liaise with relevant research councils to encourage the funding of new research. Individual Government Departments take responsibility for gathering the evidence needed to inform their policies, drawing on the specific expertise from within the Departments and from outside. This work is brought together through the cross-government Drug Strategy Research Group.

Our approach is working. Drug usage remains at its lowest level since measurement began in 1996 and people going into treatment today are more likely to free themselves from dependency than ever before.

The Government has agreed to undertake an international study to examine different approaches to drug policy in other countries, including Portugal, and we are committed to evaluating the long-term effectiveness and value for money of the Drug Strategy 2010.