Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Accepted
Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board lacks clear departmental roles and governance for substance misuse.
Recommendation
Substance misuse is the only area where the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board—made up of senior representatives from 12 central government bodies, and with a remit to identify opportunities to reduce reoffending—has not set out the main departments which have a role. The Board has also not set out a detailed governance structure or performance reporting arrangements across departments’ work – either on substance misuse treatment or on other initiatives aimed at reducing reoffending.26
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, committing to developing a proposal by Summer 2024 with the Department for Health and Social Care to identify and address critical gaps in substance misuse metrics and define success. This will be reported through cross-government governance and published routinely via the Drugs Strategy Annual Report.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2024 2.2 The government is committed to engaging offenders in substance misuse treatment at all stages of the criminal justice system to reduce reoffending. The National Combatting Drugs Outcomes Framework sets out the key metrics that the government is using to measure success, but acknowledges there is more that can be done to clearly define success and how this links to wider resettlement outcomes. 2.3 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Department for Health and Social Care will develop a proposal, including highlighting any critical gaps in current metrics and subsequent plans to fill them, to be reported through the established cross-government drugs governance and agreed by the Cross-Government Reducing Reoffending Board. The government will publish these metrics routinely, through existing publications such as the Drugs Strategy Annual Report.