Driving under Influence
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on trends in the number of offences for driving under the influence of (a) alcohol and (b) drugs.
Answered by Sarah Jones
The Home Office collects information on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including the number of ‘Causing death by careless driving under influence of drink or drugs’ offences. These are published on a quarterly basis, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables
It is not possible to separately identify which of these offences relate to alcohol and which relate to drugs.
There are a number of summary only offences relating to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which do not result in death, but these are not collected by the Home Office, as they are not notifiable offences.
The Home Office also collects and publishes data on the number of roadside alcohol screening breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, on an annual basis, as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures: Roads policing’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data, up to 2023, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-roads-policing-to-december-2023
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