Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I am not sure that I agree that they are necessarily better under someone who, for example, was approved by the Royal College of Physicians, but there clearly has to be a supervisory structure. It is very important that all people in that structure are of high quality, but we do not want to limit those people to any particular qualification. The current wording of the requirement emphasises that the treatment worker must have necessary qualifications or experience to direct treatment. This offers sufficient safeguards to ensure that treatment is directed by someone suitable for the role. However, I go back to the flexibility that is vital to ensure that a young person receives the sort of treatment that is tailored to their individual needs and circumstances. In case there are any doubting voices still around, this wording is consistent with the drug treatment requirement in paragraph 22 of Schedule 1 to the Bill, and the adult drug rehabilitation requirement in Section 209 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. It is also endorsed by both the Department of Health and the National Treatment Agency. I turn to Amendment No. 20. The proposed requirement on the Secretary of State to maintain a central list of facilities does not reflect the fundamentally decentralised arrangements for the delivery and funding of this treatment. Youth offending teams are referring young people to these services already. Indeed, the majority of young offenders who receive treatment for substance misuse access those services voluntarily. We anticipate that very few young people who have failed to engage with such treatment voluntarily will require a court order. Both funding and provision are devolved locally. Young people’s specialist substance misuse treatment services are currently funded via the National Treatment Agency. Provision is commissioned locally and youth offending teams are the largest commissioner of these services. It is the role of the local youth offending team to identify local facilities and providers, and to establish whether the services provided are appropriate for the young person subject to the order. Information about suitable treatment services and facilities for a young person will be provided to the court as part of the pre-sentence report process, on which sentencing decisions will be made. The court will, therefore, receive the necessary information about the facilities being recommended through this process. A centrally held list of facilities will not add much value—perhaps a little, but not much. Indeed, a list would be unworkable and difficult to maintain to an appropriate level of accuracy. Because the treatment services are delivered locally, the maintenance of a central list would be overly bureaucratic and liable to be out of date quickly as treatment providers change over time. We believe that we have provided an appropriate framework in the Bill to ensure the effective delivery of the intoxicating substance treatment requirement and we accept absolutely the unanimous view of the committee that this is an important area. I said that I would say a little more about resources. Alcohol treatment and general programmes to counter the misuse by young offenders that we are talking about in these amendments are included in general youth offending team work on substance misuse. Funding is received through the young people’s substance misuse grant and through local drug action teams’ and children’s services. Youth offending teams will normally engage young people voluntarily in substance misuse treatment without the need to resort to a specific court order. Our view is that very few young people will ever need alcohol or other substance misuse treatment as a requirement within a youth rehabilitation order. I hope that that answers the various issues that have been raised. The noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, has indicated his concern as to whether what we are proposing will require further funding. Not all YOTs are funded to provide substance misuse workers to support screening, early intervention and referral to specialist services. As I have said, young people’s specialist substance misuse treatment services are currently funded via the National Treatment Agency’s pooled treatment budget which is included in the young people’s substance misuse partnership grant. Local children’s and young people’s partnerships are expected to play their part in ensuring that children and young people can access the full range of treatment modalities as outlined in the National Treatment Agency guidance. In practice, young people subject to this requirement will also be accessing services provided by this funding arrangement. I invite the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, to withdraw his amendment.