Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Coordinate urgent JCDU work to develop an evidence-based plan for reducing illegal drug demand.
Conclusion
Despite previous attempts to reduce the demand for illegal drugs, the JCDU and departments still do not understand how to change behaviours and prevent people from taking drugs. Reducing the demand for illegal drugs is crucial to mitigating the harms caused by their supply. Effective prevention can also represent better value for money than an enforcement-led approach, as it avoids future economic and social costs. However, drug use has shown no reduction in the last 10 years, with some 3 million people taking drugs each year. The government has attempted to reduce the demand for drugs in previous strategies but, despite this, the JCDU and Home Office still do not have an evidence base from which to develop effective interventions. It is striking that just £300,000—0.03% of strategy funding—has been committed to research drivers of increasing drug use among children and younger people. Preventing vulnerable people from taking drugs requires a holistic, cross- cutting response and long-term interventions must consider wider socio-economic factors. Vulnerability to illegal drug is often linked to trauma and wider social issues such as deprivation and, as we have reported previously, there is a well-established relationship between substance misuse and mental health. Recommendation 6: As a matter of urgency, the JCDU should co-ordinate work to develop an evidence-based plan for achieving the strategy’s aim of reducing demand for illegal drugs to a 30-year low. It should draw research together to provide a compelling evidence base, understand the impact of local initiatives and work with other departments to build on related government strategies (e.g. deprivation, vulnerable families, mental health, homelessness etc). 8 Reducing the harm from illegal drugs 1 Implementing the government drug strategy Introduction
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will develop an evidence-based plan by investing in compulsory drug education (RSHE), commissioning primary and secondary research on drug use drivers, supporting vulnerable families through family hubs, and developing a guide for local Combating Drugs Partnerships.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. support the government’s thinking on what more can be done to reduce the demand for illegal drugs over the longer-term. Alongside this, the government has and will continue to invest in a range of activities both that are specific to drugs, and which take a broader focus but support the ambition to reduce demand. This includes: • ensuring drug education is compulsory as part of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum in state-funded schools; • primary research exploring the drivers of drug use in young people; • secondary research on how best to reduce recreational drug use amongst adults; • supporting vulnerable children and families with their holistic needs, including through family hubs; and • developing a guide for local Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDP) setting out evidence- based approaches, interventions, and resources that can be employed to support the implementation of local prevention activity. This draws out the important role of the CDP in working with other linked areas, such as children’s services. The government recognises there is more to do, and that this is for a range of departments. Work is underway to bring together the evidence to better understand what works to shift the dial on drug use. This includes: • delivering a new cross-government innovation fund to test and learn interventions; • exploring international approaches; • ongoing work led by DfE to evaluate the RSHE curriculum; • evaluation of CDP and wider projects and programmes across departments; and • advice on prevention commissioned from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Departments will continue to work together to develop the evidence base, reflect on the challenges and review where efforts can be best targeted to prevent use. This includes working with related strategies to assess where departments can join up further to achieve long-term sustainable change. . Treasury Minutes Archive1 Treasury Minutes are the government’s response to reports from the Committee of Public Accounts. Treasury Minutes are Command Papers laid in Parliament. Session 2023-24 Committee Recommendations: 94 Recommendations agreed: 87 (92%) Recommendations disagreed: 7 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number February 2024 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 [80 Session 22-23] CP 1029 March 2024 Government response to PAC reports 7-11 CP 1057 Session 2022-23 Committee Recommendations: 551 Recommendations agreed: 489 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 62 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 1, 3 & 10 CP 722 August 2022 Government response to PAC reports 2, 4-8 CP 708 September 2022 Government response to PAC reports 9, 13-16 CP 745 November 2022 Government response to PAC reports 11, 12, 17 CP 755 December 2022 Government response to PAC reports 18-22 CP 774 January 2023 Government response to PAC reports 23-26 CP 781 February 2023 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 802 March 2023 Government response to PAC reports 32-36 CP 828 May 2023 Government response to PAC reports 37-41 CP 845 June 2023 Government response to PAC reports 42-47 CP 847 July 2023 Government response to PAC reports 48-54 CP 902 August 2023 Government response to PAC reports 55-60 CP 921 September 2023 Government response to PAC reports 62-67 CP 941 November 2023 Government response to PAC reports 68-71 CP 968 January 2024 Government response to PAC reports 72-79 CP 1000 February 2024 Government response to PAC reports 80 [1-6 Session 23-24] CP 1029 Session 2021-22 Committee Recommendations: 362 Recommendations agreed: 333 (92%) Recommendations disagreed: 29 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number August 2021 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 CP 510 September 2021 Government response to PAC reports 8-11 CP 520 November 2021 Government response to PAC reports 7,13-16 (and TM2 BBC) CP 550 December 2021 Government response to PAC reports 12, 17-21 CP 583 1 List of Treasury Minutes responses for Sessions 2010-15 are annexed in the government’s response to PAC Report 52 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number January 2022 Government response to PAC reports 22-26 CP 603 February 2022 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 631 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 32-35 CP 649 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 36-42 CP 667 July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 49-52 CP 722 Session 2019-21 Committee Recommendations: 233 Recommendations agreed: 208 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 25 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 1-6 CP 270 September 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 7-13 CP 291 November 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 14-17 and 19 CP 316 January 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 18, 20-24 CP 363 February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 25-29 CP 376 February 2021 Government responses to PAC reports 30-34 CP 389 March