Recommendation 18

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government is grateful to the Home Affairs Select Committee for its consideration of this important issue and to witnesses who provided evidence to the Committee. Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs1 in 2020 and 2021, exposed the chronic and entrenched nature of drug use in this country by highlighting the violence and exploitation prevalent in the drug supply chain, the high levels of demand for drugs across the population and the lack of capacity in the treatment system to meet the needs of drug users. In response to this, the Government published its landmark ten-year Drug Strategy, From Harm to Hope2, a whole of government approach focused on three key strategic priorities: breaking drug supply chains, delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system and achieving a generational shift in the demand for drugs. This is underpinned by a record investment of over £3 billion over the first three years of delivery. The Government published the first annual report on the Drug Strategy in July 2023.3 This set out the progress made in the first year of the delivery of the Drug Strategy and the Government’s priorities going forward. Key achievements in the first year, to March 2023, include: • Closing over 1,300 county lines, against a three-year ambition to close 2,000 lines, with over 2,000 arrests and 3,200 safeguarding referrals. • Increasing the drug and alcohol treatment workforce with 1,670 additional staff, including 1,255 drug and alcohol workers, 479 of whom are focused on criminal justice. • Increasing the number of referrals from the criminal justice system by 8%. • Expanding the use of drug testing on arrest across police forces to target recreational drug users and completing 43,333 tests. • Establishing 106 Combating Drugs Partnerships across every area in England, overseen by Senior Responsible Owners, to drive local multi- agency delivery. Looking ahead, we will deepen our work across each of the three priorities set out in the Drug Strategy. To break drug supply chains we will increase drug seizures at the border, invest in the National Crime Agency to increase disruption of supply chains before they reach the UK, dismantle County Lines drug trafficking networks and target the operations of the key organised criminal groups involved in drug supply. To build a world-class treatment and recovery system, we will increase the number of high- quality treatment places available in a recovery-orientated system of care in every part of the country, continuing to build a high-quality workforce, improving the quality of psychosocial interventions and ensuring access to mental and physical healthcare and housing and employment support. To understand what works to reduce the generational demand for drugs, we will increase drug testing on arrest and pilot out of court disposals as one of the suite of tools the police have to address drug misuse. We will also work with law enforcement to target visible drug use such as cannabis through our zero-tolerance approach.