Clause 9 - Initial assessment following testing for presence of class A drugs
Drugs Bill
10:15 am
Ms Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (reducing organised and international crime, anti drugs co-ordination and international and European issues), Home Office; Don Valley, Labour)
This area is growing and developing. We are in the process of making a huge amount of change. We are on a journey from a situation in which there was very little treatment available unless one could pay for it to a situation in which we are trying to provide rapid treatment, for which there is obviously a demand beyond our current capacity. In this area and others, the key issue is the commitment and conviction of Governments to see it as a priority and to ensure that the resources are there. We can ask for training and treatment, but the fundamental question is, ''Are they going to be paid for and resourced?'' I can stand here and happily share with the Committee the fact that a record amount of resources are going into this area, rising to £1.5 billion this year. That is not just for treatment, but for the criminal justice system through the drug intervention programmes, as well as prevention and working with children and young people. We are committed to a path of expanding opportunities for treatment.
It is not just about resources, but their effective use. That is why we are looking both at the training and, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) earlier, the commissioners and their competencies, so that they know what they are looking for and can say to treatment providers ''Look, you are not providing quite what we want,''—residential rehabilitation, for example—''but this is what we are looking for. Can you help us with that?''. They would get a more dynamic engagement, which would help some services adapt to today's needs. One of those is that, ultimately, somebody has to come back into, and live in, the community. Whether they have been in prison or residential treatment, we hope that they will ultimately be part of the community with more ongoing support. We are developing this area, and working on models of care with the NTA and others to ensure that we will continue to do so. I hope that that is enough assurance for the hon. Lady for now.
I hope that I have covered most of the points people have raised on this issue this morning. I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) is unfortunately no longer here. These clauses are very important. They are about early engagement with people who are testing positive for class A drugs, and trying to ensure that the assessment is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is a means to all those other professionals and experts who can provide that full and comprehensive care plan. I hope that that will mean that when the person arrives at court—let us not forget that many of these people will be charged—there will be a report to that court that this person is engaging in treatment. That is very worth while indeed.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 9 ordered to stand part of the Bill.