Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Government lacks evidence base on effective prevention strategies to stop individuals taking drugs.
Recommendation
The JCDU and Home Office did not have an evidence base about what works in preventing individuals from taking up drug use.77 The drug strategy has a strong focus on the link between criminal activity and drug use, with initiatives such as drug testing on arrest and out of court disposals. Mr Lay also highlighted the work of the Home Office, NPCC and police to divert people into drug education systems.78 The JCDU also set out other work to reduce long-term demand, such as working with DfE on drug education in schools, commissioning the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to set out recommendations on prevention and setting up a sub-group to develop new proposals.79
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation with an April 2025 target, committing to building the evidence base on drug prevention. Actions include ensuring compulsory drug education, conducting primary and secondary research, launching a new cross-government innovation fund, evaluating the RSHE curriculum, and commissioning advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2025 6.2 The Drug Strategy highlighted the need to build the evidence in the initial phase to 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. 6.3 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. 6.4 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.