Communities and Local Government/Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

I am grateful for this opportunity to take part in this wide-ranging debate, and I shall take the liberty of widening it a stage further. One issue that the Secretary of State did not mention when she opened the debate and which was not significantly mentioned in the Queen’s Speech is that of drug and alcohol abuse, which is of profound concern to local communities and, indeed, local government. Local government is at the forefront of seeking to deliver the Government’s strategy on drug and alcohol addiction. This subject could be raised in any of the debates on the Queen’s Speech, such as those on criminal justice, education, family, welfare, and foreign affairs and defence, but it is particularly relevant to this debate on local government and communities because it is there—through drug, alcohol and addiction teams—that we see what happens. We see references to addiction in local area agreements, but do we see the outcome or delivery on meeting the needs of people out there? We can consider drugs, for example. In 1998, with great fanfare, the Government introduced the national drug strategy, with lots of money to boot, which considered four areas: young people, communities, treatment and availability. Now, significantly, young people are left out of that equation, as are communities. The strategy now consists simply of treatment and availability. In fact, the essence of the Government’s drugs strategy could be further reduced to ““out of crime, into treatment””. Drugs are a large problem. In 2004, some 360,000 adult problem drug users were identified—a figure that, no doubt, was understated and is increasing. The Government’s strategy and the Queen’s Speech fail to address the need for those problem drug users to overcome their addictions and, just as importantly, the wider implications for their families and children. Too often, the associated victims of addiction are not taken into consideration, certainly not as part of the Government’s drugs strategy. In 2003, the ““Hidden Harm”” report recognised that there were 200,000 to 300,000 children of drug users in England and Wales, and yet the Government have still not implemented fully that report’s recommendations. Effectively, the Government want to protect society by introducing yet more legislation, rather than focusing on the individual concerned.