The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

The offences should be selected by using the HO offence code filter and selecting:

• 09221 - Production of or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)

• 09226 - Production or being concerned in production of a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)

• 09241 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class B (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives)

• 09246 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class C (cannabis, including cannabis resin, cannabinol and cannabinol derivatives) (historic)

• 09230 - Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug - class A (cocaine)

As part of our Plan for Change and mission to make our streets safer we will continue to work across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use and stop those who profit from its supply.

Cocaine is an extremely harmful drug which is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class A drug, with a penalty for possession of up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. The maximum sentence for the supply of cocaine is life in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

This year, we are investing more than £43m in the County Lines Programme to target exploitative drug dealing gangs, whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the Programme has resulted in more than 2,300 deal lines closed and 6,200 arrests, including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 1,100 deal line holders.

We are taking an end-to-end approach, including working with law enforcement partners upstream and at the UK border to tackle the gangs responsible for drug trafficking. UK Law Enforcement delivers a significant amount of operational activity overseas and at the UK border to detect and seize illicit drugs being sold and trafficked to the UK. In 2023/24 28.3 tonnes of powder cocaine was seized by police and Border Force in England and Wales. This was an increase from 18.6 tonnes the previous year and the largest recorded quantity of cocaine seized since the time series began in 1973.

We have also committed to driving down drug related harms through prevention and treatment, including by creating local drug partnerships with police forces and public health services.

We will also continue to draw on the advice of experts, including our independent advisers in the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The ACMD has committed to reviewing the drivers of powder cocaine use. In June my predecessor wrote to the Chair of the ACMD, noting that the Government wishes to receive actionable insights from this review as soon as possible.

In 2023/24, 28.3 tonnes of powder cocaine was seized by police and Border Force in England and Wales. This was an increase from 18.6 tonnes the previous year and the largest recorded quantity of cocaine seized since the time series began in 1973.

However, serious criminals are constantly developing their approaches to traffic cocaine into the UK in response to our efforts at the border. This includes changing their trafficking routes and evolving their methodologies to evade detection, for example, diversifying importation methods through at-sea-drop-offs.

We therefore recognise that we must continue to adapt our strategy and work more closely with law enforcement partners upstream to stop cocaine trafficking at source and all across the supply chain, targeting the gangs responsible, and bringing them to justice. Officials will continue to assess the impact of global drug trafficking on the UK and implement new approaches to respond to this threat.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 4 February 2025 to Question 26446. A Royal Navy ship maintains a persistent presence in the Caribbean Sea where it contributes to regional security through the conduct of counter-illicit trafficking operations.

Defence maintains close relationships with independent states throughout the region and works in partnership with Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United States to align and conduct joint activity.

There are credible reports that local conditions have allowed criminal enterprises to substantially increase illicit activities in Venezuela, which has likely resulted in increases in cocaine trafficked through the country. The UK collaborates with regional partners to fight such organised crime, including drug trafficking.

The increase in alcohol related deaths and those linked to cocaine usage is concerning. The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidenced-based, high-quality treatment to reduce the numbers of alcohol and drug related deaths. 

Local authorities are responsible for assessing the local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and for commissioning services to meet those needs. In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26, the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol services and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. Havering Borough Council, of which Romford is a part, will receive £400,302 from this additional grant funding in 2025/26.

The Department has an action plan in place to reduce drug and alcohol-related deaths, which is currently being reviewed to ensure that it is grounded in the latest understanding of the drivers of drug and alcohol related deaths, and is responding to these. In 2024, the Department published guidance for local authorities and their partnerships on how to review adult drug and alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses to prevent future deaths.

Alongside the funding allocations, the Department has a range of existing and forthcoming best practice resources and guidance that supports those working in the sector to tailor drug and alcohol treatment services to meet local needs to improve treatment outcomes. The commissioning quality standard provides guidance to local authorities on how to ensure they have a shared understanding of local need, including the experiences of diverse populations. The commissioning quality standard can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services

Later this year the Department will also be publishing the United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment, which will include recommendations on developing effective, accessible, and inclusive services. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve the quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes. The Department continues to work with all local areas to address unmet needs and drug and alcohol misuse deaths, and to drive improvements in the continuity of care. This includes the Unmet Need Toolkit, which can be used by local areas to assess local need and plan to meet it.

The Home Office collects information on the number of ‘Having Possession Of A Controlled Drug - Class A Cocaine’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and their investigative outcomes including charges.

Information, for the year to June 2024, on the age of suspects charged for possession of cocaine is provided in the table below. However, information on the age of the suspect is not quality assured as it is not currently routinely published or collected as official statistics from forces and in 43% of cases age has not been provided.

Number of offences resulting in charge/summons, year ending June 2024, broken down by age-group, for ‘Having Possession Of A Controlled Drug - Class A Cocaine’ offences, England and Wales (excluding Humberside Police)

Border Force does not hold the data in an easily accessible format on how many of the cocaine seizures in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020, (d) 2021 and (e) 2022 were consignments intercepted while attempting to enter the UK via the Channel ports.

The links for the main seizures publication can be found at Gov.UK: Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Border Force does not hold the data in an easily accessible format on how many of the cocaine seizures in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020, (d) 2021 and (e) 2022 were consignments intercepted while attempting to enter the UK via the Channel ports.

The links for the main seizures publication can be found at Gov.UK: Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Cocaine is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class A drug and placed in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (“the 2001 Regulations”).

Drugs placed in Schedule 2 to the 2001 Regulations have some known therapeutic value in the UK and are subject to strict prescribing, record keeping and storage requirements. In addition to the 2001 Regulations, the prescribing of cocaine will also be subject to the requirement of the Misuse of Drugs (Supply to Addicts) Regulations 1997, if prescribed to someone with a drug dependence disorder.

Cocaine is a licensed medicine authorised for local anaesthesia and vasoconstriction of the mucous membranes, for use in procedures such as oral and ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery.

The UK Government worked with authorities in Ecuador to make this seizure possible and to mitigate the drugs threat to the UK. Restricting upstream supply is a key part of the UK Government's plan to break drug supply chains as set out in "From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives". This requires a comprehensive approach combining a strong law enforcement response with leveraging of the UK's diplomatic and overseas policy networks.

The Ministry of Defence has a policy of Compulsory Drug Testing (CDT) which is utilised to enforce the message that drug use is not acceptable within the Services. Drug taking is incompatible with military service and operational effectiveness.

I can confirm that during May 2021, a small number of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment failed a compulsory drugs test. Under the terms of the Data Protection Act, it would be inappropriate to release information about the outcome of the action taken, however I can confirm that in cases such as this, the Chain of Command investigates each case of a positive CDT result in accordance with policy, and Service personnel caught taking drugs can expect to be discharged.

UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise environmental issues, as well as specific cases of concern, directly with the Colombian Government and in multilateral fora. Most recently, the UK's Minister for the Environment, Lord Goldsmith, discussed our concerns around environmental crime during his visit to Colombia 5-8 October.

Through the UK's £68m CSSF (Conflict, Stability and Security Fund) programming in support of peace and stabilisation, we continue to support the elements of the peace agreement related to reducing coca production and trafficking. This has included a contribution to a $2 million multi-donor project for crop substitution and food security, as well as funding the provision of technical advisers to the Colombian Government office overseeing this work.

The British Government is at the forefront of international efforts to protect endangered animals from poaching and illegal trade, and we are committed to supporting Colombia to host the Second High Level Conference of the Americas on Illegal Wildlife Trade. This builds on the ground-breaking conference series, which began in London in 2014, has secured ambitious agreements from governments to take urgent, coordinated action against the illegal wildlife trade.

The Office of National Statistics report ‘Deaths related to drugs poisoning in England and Wales: 2019 registrations’ shows that cocaine deaths have risen for the eighth consecutive year to their highest level, with the male death rate in 2019 being nearly four times higher than the female death rate. The second phase of Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs is focussing on treatment and recovery services, for the misuse of cocaine and other drugs, and the final report will be made available to Ministers later this year.

The Home Office has not received representations on this matter. However, the Government is clear that cocaine is a harmful drug and we remain absolutely committed to reducing its supply and use. The first part of Professor Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs, published on 27 February, sets out the evidence on trends around the supply and use of cocaine.

All illicit drugs are harmful, and there is no safe way to take them. The Government does not condone the illicit supply of drugs. Public Health England coordinate public information campaigns on drug consumption.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not have a remit to tackle illegal use of drugs but is involved in a number of initiatives which may help reduce their entry into the River Thames.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel, which is currently in construction and will be operational by 2023, will significantly reduce the frequency and volume of discharges of storm sewage and improve water quality in the tidal Thames. This will reduce levels of associated chemicals in the tidal river.

The EA is working with Thames Water and other water companies to undertake extensive investigations, to assess a wide range of chemicals entering rivers through wastewater treatment works. The investigations have shown that wastewater treatment works significantly reduce the concentrations of many chemicals before they are discharged to rivers. Although cocaine is not part of these investigations, it is likely that it will be similarly affected by wastewater treatment.

The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes a wide range of monitoring in the River Thames, including some exploratory monitoring for cocaine, to manage water quality and inform future regulatory approaches where appropriate.