Recommendation 31

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government is absolutely committed to tackling drugs as a driver of crime, including the theft and violence driven by drug misuse. Dame Carol Black’s review of drugs highlights that approximately half of all acquisitive crimes (excluding fraud) are linked to drug misuse and that this is primarily driven by people dependent on opiate and crack cocaine who commit crime to fund their habit. Part two of Dame Carol’s review, which was published on 8 July 2021, provides concrete recommendations on improving the treatment and recovery system and covers a range of important issues, including local commissioning practices, accountability and transparency, funding for treatment services, as well as the role of wider health, employment and housing services in helping people achieve and sustain recovery. Our initial response to parts one and two of the review, published on 27 July, is clear that we must take a genuinely whole-system approach in order to tackle both the supply of drugs and demand for them together. This includes a focus on developing a high-quality treatment and recovery system which offers people with a drug dependency a route to a healthy, productive life and which prevents further drug-driven offending. As our response notes, a range of work is already underway to address these challenges, including £80m of investment in drug treatment and recovery for 2021–22 focusing on support for those in the criminal justice system, additional funding for treatment services for those who sleep rough, an extension of the Individual Placement and Support programme to help get those with a drug and alcohol dependence back into work, and an expansion of our innovative pathfinder programme Project ADDER to an additional eight local authorities (new ADDER Accelerator sites). Project ADDER is delivering change in some of the worst affected neighbourhoods, while building the evidence base to inform the development of our long-term strategic response. We have also strengthened national leadership through the establishment of a new Joint Combatting Drugs Unit to ensure we coordinate and drive activity across the full range of departments who contribute to this agenda. However, the Government recognises that there is more to do, which is why we have committed to publishing a Drug Strategy later this year after the Spending Review, which will set out our longer term plans to tackle drug misuse in the coming years. Further activity to raise the quality and capacity of the treatment system will be a vital element of our longer-term approach. With regards to the funding of treatment services, we have no plans to prescribe how enforcement partners use their receipts from the proceeds of crime. Under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), half of the receipts from the recovered proceeds of crime are retained by the Home Office as part of its funding settlement and are already accounted for in Home Office budgets. This is also used to directly tackle crime. The remainder of the receipts are distributed to the Proceeds of Crime Agencies based on the powers used. The Home Office does not prescribe what ARIS funds must be spent on, the guidance states that ARIS funds should be used for asset recovery or fund local crime fighting priorities. Are retail workers a special case?