Data showing the number of defendants prosecuted and sentenced for offences relating to the dealing of cocaine in England, the north-east and Cleveland police force area from 1996 to 2005 are shown in the following table. My Department are not able to provide data for the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency as the data are not held at the required level. Data for 2006 will be available shortly.
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 England Proceeded against 568 717 805 965 1,027 1,357 1,482 1,584 1,579 1,823 Sentenced 351 404 516 627 573 701 868 1,097 1,197 1,323 North-east region Proceeded against 23 27 19 69 51 57 81 73 69 100 Sentenced 10 11 17 27 36 33 45 66 66 78 Cleveland police force area Proceeded against 11 6 6 34 33 35 60 36 19 35 Sentenced 2 3 1 11 10 19 16 38 28 36 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. 2 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. 3 The sentenced column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty and committed for sentence at the crown court may be sentenced in the following year. 4 The following offences have been used in the table: (a) Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug, (or being concerned in): Cocaine. (Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Sec 4(3) [Class 'A1 Drug]. (b) Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply:-Cocaine. (Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Sec 5(3) [Class 'A1 Drug]. 5 Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.