Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham & Amersham, Conservative)

The clause deals with orders and guidance. An enormous amount of the substance of the Bill will be enacted through order and secondary legislation. It falls to me to question the Minister about subsection (2), which makes two provisions—first, that orders may

''make different provision for different police areas''

and, secondly, for those

''who have not attained the age of 18 to attend . . . an initial assessment or a follow-up assessment''.

How will the provision for different police areas be varied? Will persons under the age of 18 fall within the Bill's provisions in some police areas, but not others? That is my primary concern.

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)

I shall deal first with the question of age. Clause 18 provides that any order made by the Secretary of State under clauses 9(4) and 10(5) to amend the age at which persons may be required to attend the initial and follow-up assessments must be approved by resolution of both Houses. That will allow the power to require persons to attend such assessments to be extended to young people if it is considered necessary and appropriate. It also requires the police and others carrying out assessments to have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State under part 3 when exercising any   functions under that part. That will ensure that note is taken of any additional safeguards thought necessary to protect the rights of those affected by the provisions.

The hon. Lady is, I hope, aware that we are piloting drug testing on charge, and voluntary arrest referral for young people, which comes in at a later stage than for adults. We may want to go down that route in future, so we are considering the emerging findings of those pilot schemes to see whether the same requirements are necessary for younger people as for older people.

The figures on testing, for example, are telling us whether the amount of class A drugs showing up on testing is comparable to adult testing. It will allow us better to think how we might plan the expansion of testing and assessment for young people. It is not that we do not think it important, but work on testing adults is further advanced, and we want to ensure that the Bill leaves open the opportunity to expand. As we are talking about young people under the age of 18, we think it appropriate that such provisions should be discussed by Parliament. As during our debates over the past few weeks, people will probably want to discuss capacity, and what support and treatment is available. I hope that that answer satisfies the hon. Lady.

The other question was about the reference to different police areas. The hon. Lady is probably aware that the drug intervention programme focuses on areas with the highest levels of acquisitive crime linked to drug misuse that we can identify. Although the programme is not yet available throughout the country, we have identified the basic command unit areas that have the most problems in dealing with such crimes and the associated drug taking. That will allow us to include other police areas as and when appropriate, based on need and on their capacity to deliver. I hope that reassures the hon. Lady.

Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham & Amersham, Conservative)

That reassures me, but will the Minister further reassure me that she looks forward eventually to having uniformity of provision—necessity driven, of course—across all police areas, rather than the current patchy provision?

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)

I think that as necessity drives, which is what is important, we would like to see further opportunities to expand what is already a good foundation for tackling drugs and crime. We must, however, look at the necessity for that because we must justify the public expenditure and ensure that there is the capacity to deliver. We are building capacity, reducing waiting times and making sure that people get appropriate treatment that works.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 18 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 19 ordered to stand part of the Bill.