Agenda item

To receive a report from Katharina O’Donnell, Health Informatics & Public Health Service Development Manager.

To receive a report from Detective Superintendent Tony Kelly.

RECEIVED a Drugs and Alcohol Update Report from Dr Glenn Stewart, Assistant Director of Public Health.

NOTED:

i)                 The report provides a brief summary of the Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) Partnership work currently being undertaken in the Borough in relation to the crime reduction agenda. It also provides a brief outline of the key performance highlights most relevant to this agenda.

ii)               There is a well-established although complex link between drugs and alcohol and crime. Whilst drug users are more likely to be involved in crime there is strong evidence that community treatment can be a positive factor in helping to reduce offending behaviour for those individuals.

iii)              The Enfield Adult Substance Misuse Treatment System has recently been retendered and since April 2017 services are now being provided by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (BEH-MHT).

iv)             There have also been some system changes as part of the tendering exercise which are still being implemented, ensuring that all Enfield residents aged 18+, who are seeking help for their substance use, can benefit.

v)               Local performance is measured by various indicators but the main ones as outlined by Public Health England (PHE) are ‘Numbers in Treatment’ and ‘Successful Treatment Completions’. In 2016/17 a total of 1,213 drug and alcohol; users in Enfield received community based treatment. Approximately 24% (292 clients) of those were also known to the Criminal Justice System with a successful treatment completion rate of approximately 30.3%, which is above the national successful completion rate of 22.3% for all drug and alcohol users in treatment in 2016/17.

vi)             Alongside various soft markers, the partnership also monitors performance against MOPAC 4 Grant Agreement in terms of crime reduction; where the key target is the ‘Percentage of Offenders within the cohort with Reduced Offending’. By the end of 2016/17 Enfield achieved 71.4% against a target of 20%, with a reduction in the number of cumulative convictions by over 50% to 105 against a baseline of 221.

vii)            Further information was provided on the Service elements in place to support the criminal justice and crime reduction agenda and includes service provision ranging from Arrest Referral function, assessments for Alcohol Rehabilitation Requirements (ATRs) and Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs) to court reports, prison liaison and prison releases as well as access to community based treatment including rapid access to prescribing, one-to-one and offender based group work programmes.

viii)           Further discussions took place on Arrest Referrals, Crime Reduction Group Work Programmes and the Integrated Offender Management Team (IOM).

ix)             The Young People’s (YP) Substance Misuse contract is separate from the adults’ and is being provided by COMPASS – Sort It! primarily located at Felixstowe Road Edmonton N18. There are well established links between this service and the Youth Offending Service (YOS) which constitute for just under half (44% in 2016/17 compared to only 25% nationally) of all referrals into the YP treatment service

x)               The Committee was asked to note the commitment and work undertaken by the DAAT Partnership to reducing re-offending rates for substance misusers in treatment.

The Chair, Councillor Smith commented that on the face of it this was quite a positive report and the statistics seemed marvellous. In view of this some further confirmation and clarification of the data and figures provide was sought.

Dr Glenn Stewart agreed that the targets may well be something that needed to be addressed.

Andrea Clemons advised that although the reduction shown in the figures presented is genuine it is based around a small, be it harmful cohort of people. The programmes in place are focused and Enfield is particularly good at Integrated Offender Management.

It was agreed that Dr Stewart would confirm that the figures in the report were accurate.

Action: Dr Glenn Stewart

Post meeting note

It has been confirmed that the figures are correct.

The Chair thanked Dr Stewart for his interesting report.