Minutes:
Ø Three main ambitions of the 10-year Drug Strategy:
1. Breaking drug supply chains
2. Deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system
3. Reduce the demand for recreational drugs
· The implementation of the 10-year Drug Strategy subsequently means there will be an increase in core funding to tackle drug misuse in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD).
· Partnership working is another key component of the CDP as tackling the misuse of drugs and alcohol is ‘everyone’s business'. LBBD does well in terms of partnership working but it would be useful to also access additional intelligence that further informs how we can take this drug strategy forwards.
· The CDP will be renamed to include tackling alcohol abuse due to the increased alcohol use in LBBD, especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This new group will be named Combatting Drugs & Alcohol (CDA) Meeting.
· The purpose and membership of the CDA significantly overlaps that of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). To avoid duplication of work and increase efficiency, it is proposed to devote the CSP some strategic oversight of the CDA by creating a combined ‘Community Safety and Substance Misuse Partnership (CS&SMP) Board.
· The CS&SMP Board will feature the CDA Meeting as an additional sub-group whereby the majority of operational work is carried out and deliver quarterly updates to the board to ensure legislative strategic oversight.
Nathan Singleton questioned if the funding to carry out the government’s 10-year Drug Strategy came from the Standard Public Health Grant. Amolak Tatter responded that as well as an increase in the Public Health Grant, LBBD received an additional Universal Grant last year. The Universal grant was used to commission the creation of a Complex Criminal Justice Team with an identified range of expertise across children’s and adult social care. For this year and next, the Supplementary Grant will sustain the funding of the Complex Criminal Justice Team, as well as increase the work that is being carried out to tackle drug and alcohol misuse, recovery, and relapse prevention.
Nathan Singleton further quired how partnership working could be improved in light of partners no longer having access to police databases. Andy Opie and Stuart Bell confirmed that there is a new system being created under a new framework within the police, which partners will have access to when completed.
Amolak Tatter informed that there is a Drugs and Alcohol needs assessment that has been drafted and is due to be circulated. Having access to police and wider partner intelligence will be crucial in the finetuning of the Drugs and Alcohol needs assessment, as this document will inform where the gaps are within the service. This will therefore influence LBBD’s 5-year Drugs and Alcohol Strategy priorities, the subsequent action plan, and the re-commissioning of providers.
Amolak Tatter also noted the cultural competencies work will begin in January 2023. Over half of LBBD is from an ethnic minority background, however, drug and alcohol services are mostly accessed by White-British residents. The cultural competencies work will explore why ethnic minority residents are not accessing services and seek to improve engagement.
v RECOMMENDATION ACCEPTED:
- The CSP will have oversight of the CDP and embed this board as part of a CSP sub-group on a trial basis.
· ACTION: Chris Lyons to amend the Community Safety Partnership Terms of Reference to reflect the new Community Safety & Substance Misuse Board.
· ACTION: Amolak Tatter to bring Alcohol and Drugs Needs Assessment to the next Community Safety & Substance Misuse Board.
· ACTION: Amolak Tatter to bring an update on the Cultural Competencies work to the next Community Safety & Substance Misuse Board.