Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM of Slovakia, Asylum, Afghanistan/Drugs, PM’s Newsnight Interview and John Prescott/Bali.
PM of Slovakia
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister had had a meeting with Prime Minister Dzurinda of Slovakia.
The main focus of their discussion had been EU enlargement. The Prime Minister had congratulated Prime Minister Dzurinda on the excellent progress Slovakia had made towards EU and NATO membership over the last three and a half years. He said he hoped that that would continue.
Asylum
Responding to earlier questions relating to France’s policing of Frethun, the PMOS said that the French had told us that a full replacement squadron of fifty officers had arrived at the freight terminal during the morning. As he understood it, the new French Interior Minister had given explicit instructions for policing levels there to be maintained, which was obviously something we welcomed. In addition, SNCF would begin to install better physical security next month, including improved fencing and infrared surveillance equipment.
Afghanistan/Drugs
The PMOS drew journalists’ attention to a PQ answered this afternoon by Denis MacShane about the poppy eradication campaign in Afghanistan. Over 16,000 hectares of poppies had been destroyed so far - about a third of the crop in the main poppy-growing areas. That would have amounted to 74 tons of heroin - around three times the estimated annual consumption in the UK - worth about £5bn. Had the crop not been destroyed, it would have entered the smuggling chain, with a significant proportion of it heading towards the UK.
PM’s Newsnight Interview
The PMOS advised journalists that the Prime Minister had done an interview for Newsnight. It was being broadcast in three chunks. Tonight would be about public services, tomorrow night would focus on foreign affairs and Thursday night would deal with the state and the individual.
Tonight’s part of the interview covered transport (which included the Prime Minister’s first words post-Potters Bar), health, crime and education. One subject that had come up was drugs, and in particular how we could break the cycle of addiction crime, where people robbed to feed a habit, went to jail and then repeated the cycle on their release. In his interview, the Prime Minister had spoken about several measures which were being taken, or could be taken, to help break the cycle.
He had focussed in particular on the issues around bail and the question of whether people should receive it if they refused treatment for their drugs problem. He had also referred to three bail and drug test pilots currently taking place in Stoke Newington, Staffordshire and Nottingham. Under the scheme, people were tested on arrest, in the community if they were serving a sentence, or on release from prison. The information gained from that could be used by the CPS and put before a magistrate - so that the resulting sentence could contain an element of conditionality.
For example, someone would only receive bail - or even a community sentence rather than a custodial sentence - if they agreed to treatment. Alternatively, perhaps their release would be conditional on staying clean. These three pilots had started last November and would continue until the summer. The Prime Minister’s reference to them showed he was taking a keen interest in them. He had also cited the example of an individual in Oxford who had received a Drug Treatment and Testing Order, and whom police had linked to 518 previously unsolved car crimes.
As a result of the Order, car crime in the city centre had fallen by 59%. The police had also been able to link eleven people on Drug Treatment and Testing Orders to 1,000 similar crimes. Overall, pilots had shown that people on such Orders reduced their spending on drugs from an average of £400 to £25 a week during the first seven days of their Order.
Asked to explain how Drug Treatment and Testing Orders worked, the PMOS said that the scheme had been introduced across England and Wales in October 200. It allowed the courts to require offenders to undergo treatment and other programmes designed to tackle drug misuse for a period of between three months and six years. Under the Order, offenders had to be tested regularly for illegal drugs and attend court for periodic reviews.
Asked whether the Prime Minister had ever said that someone who refused a drugs test should not be given bail, the PMOS said he had given a pretty clear indication in his Newsnight interview that this was something well worth looking at. Asked about the consequences should people refuse to take a drugs test, the PMOS said that refusing a drugs test was like refusing a breathalyser test. In other words, people could be prosecuted for non-compliance.
John Prescott/Bali
Questioned as to whether John Prescott would be going to Bali, the PMOS said that the position had not changed since being asked the question this morning. Mr Prescott had not yet decided whether to go. If he did attend, it would be because there was a need for him to do so. The Bali conference was being organised by the UN since there were issues which the organisation believed were important to be resolved to ensure a successful Summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg in September.
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