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A summary of the UK and devolved administrations’ drug strategies is given below. While none of these strategies have yet been formally evaluated, outlines of the most recent reviews have been included.

2.2.1 United Kingdom

The UK Drug Strategy 2010, Reducing demand, restricting supply, building recovery: supporting people to live a drug free life (Her Majesty’s Government, 2010) was published in December 2010. This strategy places greater emphasis than preceding strategies on supporting those

who are drug dependent to achieve recovery and on the provision of the integrated support necessary to enable this, such as housing and employment.

The 2010 drug strategy widened its focus to include dependence on all drugs, including prescription and over the counter drugs, as well as tackling the emergence of NPS. It highlighted a shift in responsibility away from central government to locally led treatment plans. New legal powers aimed at restricting the supply of drugs were also introduced, including Temporary Class Drug Orders for NPS (see section 8.2) and new powers to seize cutting agents and precursor chemicals.

The Home Office currently leads on the implementation of the strategy within England, and with regard to reserved matters elsewhere.

Drug strategy annual review

In February 2015, the Home Office published the Drug Strategy Annual Review: A balanced approach (Home Office, 2015b), highlighting both key achievements and future priorities for all three strands of the drug strategy (reducing demand, restricting supply and building recovery).

Key achievements included:

• the continued expansion of the Troubled Families programme (see section 3.5.2)

• the 2015 launch of the ‘Rise Above’ online resource (see section 3.4.1)

• implementation of new legislation including the Serious Crime Act (Her Majesty’s Government, 2015c) and the introduction of a drug-driving offence

• the addition of a new condition to the Public Health Grant to encourage local authorities (LAs) to invest in the provision of high quality drug and alcohol treatment services

• the provision of £5 million to the Health Premium Incentive Scheme for 2015/16, to be distributed to LAs who can show a two per cent improvement in the number of successful completions for treatment

The review also included progress made towards meeting other potential needs of those in treatment for substance misuse, such as statutory guidance on social housing and improvement of training packages at Jobcentre Plus.

Recommendations/priorities cited for the next year included:

• the promotion of evidence-based practice in schools, the continuation of funding for the Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPIS) and addressing wider aspects associated with potential substance misuse such as reducing the number of youths who are not in education, employment or training

• increased collaboration between police, festival organisers, night time economy

stakeholders and LAs, the implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) NSP guidance and the continued roll-out of Liaison and Diversion (L&D)⁵ schemes (see section 8.5.1)

5 L&D schemes are designed to identify, assess, screen and refer offenders who have mental health, learning disability, substance misuse or other vulnerabilities to an appropriate treatment or support service. See: https://www.england.

nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just/liaison-and-diversion/ld-about/

Future work will also include:

• a crackdown on UK-based websites in violation of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Her Majesty’s Government, 1971); and increased access to centralised data on drug testing on arrest to enable the identification of local trends.

2.2.2 Scotland

The Scottish government’s national long-term drug strategy, The Road to Recovery: A new approach to tackling Scotland’s drug problem, was published in 2008 (Scottish Government, 2008d). Central to the strategy is the concept of recovery and supporting people to live a drug-free life as active and engaged members of society. It has received cross-party support from the Scottish Parliament. The strategy includes multiple objectives across five principal action areas: promoting recovery; delivering the recovery model; prevention; enforcement; and children affected by substance misusing families.

The key priorities of the strategy are:

• better prevention of drug problems, with improved life chances for children and young people, especially those at particular risk of developing a drug problem, allowing them to realise their full potential in all areas of life

• to see more people recover from problem drug use so that they can live longer,

healthier lives, realising their potential and making a positive contribution to society and the economy

• having communities that are safer and stronger places to live and work because crime, disorder and danger related to drug use have been reduced

• ensuring that children affected by parental drug problems are safer and more able to achieve their potential

• improving the effectiveness of delivery at a national and local level

To help achieve these priorities, the Scottish government has developed an alcohol and drugs quality improvement framework to ensure quality in the provision of care, treatment and recovery services, as well as quality in the data that will show the outcomes people are achieving (Scottish Government, 2014) (see section 4.2.2).

In Scotland, the 2015/16 Updated Guidance for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) on Planning and Reporting Arrangements (Scottish Government, 2015b) identifies nationally agreed core outcomes and indicators that all ADPs are expected to deliver against. The Scottish government has developed a Recovery Outcomes Web tool, which will form part of the new national Drug & Alcohol Information System (DAISy), which aims to support the tracking of progress towards recovery for individuals in drug (and alcohol) services.

2.2.3 Wales

The Welsh government also published its long term substance misuse strategy, Working together to reduce harm 2008-2018, in 2008 (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008a). The strategy combines drugs, alcohol, and addiction to prescription drugs and over the counter medications. It has a clear focus on reducing the harms associated with substance misuse, citing its four aims as:

• reducing the harm to individuals (particularly young people), their families and wider communities from the misuse of drugs and alcohol, while not stigmatising substance misuse

• improving the availability and quality of education, prevention and treatment services and related support, with a greater priority given than under the previous strategy to those related to alcohol

• making better use of resources – supporting evidence based decision making, improving treatment outcomes, developing the skills base of partners and service providers by giving a greater focus to workforce development and joining up agencies and services more effectively

• embedding the core Welsh Assembly government values of sustainability, equality and diversity, support for the Welsh language, and developing user-focused services and a rights base for children and young people in both the development and delivery of the strategy

Since the launch of the strategy several accompanying shorter term delivery plans have also been published, most recently the Substance misuse delivery plan 2016-2018 (Welsh Government, 2016). These delivery plans set out performance measures for each of the strategy’s key action areas: preventing harm; supporting substance misusers to improve their health and aid and maintain recovery; supporting and protecting families; and tackling availability and protecting individuals and communities via enforcement activity. Progress of the delivery plan is monitored through an internal cross-government Substance Misuse Programme Board and an external Substance Misuse National Partnership Board which meets three times a year. The current plan highlights the importance of the substance misuse agenda in relation to the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (National Assembly for Wales, 2015). There is also a greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

2.2.4 Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s strategy, the New Strategic Direction for Alcohol and Drugs (Department of Health Northern Ireland, 2006), was launched in 2006 with a focus on reducing the harms related to alcohol and drug misuse. The NSD emphasised five supporting pillars for the strategy:

prevention and early intervention; treatment and support; law and criminal justice; harm reduction and monitoring; and evaluation and research. It identified two themes: children, young people and families; and adults, carers and the general public, to be addressed across the five pillars as well as the three cross-sectional threads of workforce development, stakeholder involvement and vulnerable groups to run throughout the strategy.

The strategy was reviewed and revised before being relaunched in 2011 as the New Strategic Direction for Alcohol and Drugs Phase 2, 2011-2016 (Department of Health Northern Ireland, 2011).

A number of key priorities were identified including:

• developing a regional commissioning framework for treatment

• targeting those at risk and vulnerable

• alcohol and drug-related crime including anti-social behaviour and tackling underage drinking

• reduced availability of illicit drugs

• addressing community issues

• promoting good practice in respect of alcohol and drug-related education and prevention

• developing harm reduction approaches

• workforce development

In July 2016 the fourth annual report of progress towards outcomes contained within the drug strategy was published, showing that the majority of the 141 outcomes are on track for achievement within the timescale expected (Department of Health Northern Ireland, 2016a).⁶ It is anticipated that a final review and evaluation of NSD Phase 2 will be conducted in 2017 with consideration being given to developing a new strategy after this. The ongoing development and implementation of the drug strategy is overseen by the NSD Steering Group.