FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2940
You asked
Please supply the following information in relation to recreational drug use for Leicester City and Leicestershire County:
Prevalence data for 16 to 69 year olds recreational drug use in Leicester city and Leicestershire county (cocaine, any amphetamines, new psychoactive substances, ecstasy) for the years 2018/19 & 2019/20.
Drug related deaths in Leicester and Leicestershire from cocaine, any amphetamines, new Psychoactive substances, ecstasy.
We said
Q1) Can I request prevalence data for 16 to 69 year olds recreational drug use in Leicester city and Leicestershire county (cocaine, any amphetamines, New Psychoactive substances, Ecstasy) for the years 2018/19 & 2019/20.
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis showing the information you have requested at this geographical level. In order to provide this, we would need to use a high level of statistical skill and judgement to create new information, which we are no obligated to do under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
For context, we have not produced this analysis, as sample sizes for the Crime Survey for England and Wales are not big enough to provide robust or reliable estimates at the Local Authority or County level. Furthermore, a breakdown of our small sample size into the specific categories requested would constitute personal information, owing to the low numbers involved. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it a criminal offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individuals. Therefore, we would be unable to disclose this information, even if we were to create it.
However, you may be interested in the following publication: Drug misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2020. Table 3.08 in the accompanying Drug misuse in England and Wales - Appendix tables provides the "proportion of 16 to 59 year olds reporting use of illicit drugs in the last year by English region and Wales, year ending December 1995 to year ending March 2020." This includes breakdowns for cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogens, amphetamines, and cannabis. Please note, we do not hold a regional breakdown for the use of new psychoactive substances, but the national figure is available in Table 1.02.
Q2) Drug-related deaths in Leicester and Leicestershire from cocaine, any amphetamines, new Psychoactive substances, ecstasy.
We hold analysis showing deaths from drug poisoning by local authority in the following dataset: Drug misuse deaths by local authority.
We also hold deaths caused by selected substances at a country and regional geographical level in the following publication: Deaths related to drug poising by selected substances.
The following bulletin and link to further datasets may also be of interest:
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2020 registrations
All data related to drug-related deaths in England and Wales: 2020
The following link will provide previous bulletins: Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales bulletins: 2011 to 2020. Once you have selected the bulletin for each year, please navigate to and click the link in the green box on the right-hand side of the webpage. This will provide a list of all the relevant datasets accompanying the bulletins for each year.
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis showing drug-related deaths in Leicestershire and Leicester by specific drug. In order to fulfil this request, we would need to create bespoke analysis. As mentioned previously, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. However, the information you have requested may be available to commission as bespoke analysis. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there may be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.