To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of offences against the person have been linked to (a) alcohol abuse and (b) use of illegal drugs in each year since 1997. (110317)

From the information collected centrally, it is not possible to identify those offences which are alcohol or drug-related. Such offences are not specifically defined by statute and details of the individual circumstances of offences do not feature in the recorded crime data series.

The British Crime Survey (BCS) provides information on the proportion of violent incidents in England and Wales where the offender was thought to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. According to the latest BCS (2005/06) the offender was thought to be under the influence of alcohol in 44 per cent. of violent incidents, and under the influence of drugs in 23 per cent. of violent incidents (see table 1 for figures for previous years).

The proportion of other crime-related incidents where the offender was thought to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs has not been estimated.

This information was published by the Home Office in the “Crime in England and Wales 2005/06” and “Violent Crime Overview, Homicide and Gun crime 2004/05” publications. This information is via Home Office websites:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0506.html

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0405.html

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of alcohol- related violence took place in (a) England and Wales, (b) the Kent police force area and (c) the North Kent basic command unit in each of the last five years. (109633)

From the information collected centrally, it is not possible to identify those offences which are alcohol-related. Such offences are not specifically defined by statute and details of the individual circumstances of offences do not feature in the recorded crime data series.

The British Crime Survey (BCS) provides information on the number of violent incidents where the offender was thought to be under the influence of alcohol.

According to the latest BCS (2005-06) there were 1,029,000 violent incidents in England and Wales where the offender was thought to be under the influence of alcohol (see the following table for numbers since 2001-02 BCS). The numbers of alcohol-related violent incidents are not broken down by police force area or basic command unit.

This information was published by the Home Office in the Crime in England and Wales 2005-06 publication. This information is available in the Library, and via Home Office website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0506.html.