Agenda item

To receive a report from Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety.

RECEIVED a report from Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety.

NOTED:

i)             The report provides information in relation to national and local approaches to tackle illegal drugs. It includes a summary of the Metropolitan Police Service drug plans, the Public Health England approaches and developing local work to better understand drugs markets and reduce the harms caused.

ii)            Drugs offences in Enfield are down by just over 6.5% in Enfield. This is interesting as there is a perspective that drug offences are linked to gang activity.

iii)           The Police Drugs Plan 2017-21 aims to deal with the impact of drugs on communities and confidence in police actions. It refers to the links between drugs and other issues (especially gang culture) additionally the overlap with organised crime.

iv)           There are three strands to the plan; to reduce demand, reduce supply and reduce harm. The aim is to do this by problem solving and education, disruption and enforcement and improved community contact and intelligence.

v)            The plan also aims to work with partners to address our most vulnerable, marginalised and disaffected people who are often affected by complex issues including mental health, drugs and alcohol and may be either victims or offenders.

vi)           The report included information provided by the Commissioner for Young Peoples Substance Misuse Services in Enfield detailing the various interventions which have worked well in Enfield. This included Integrated case work-plan multi agency approaches to tackling substance misuse and offending behaviour, referral pathways between schools and YOS are in place and effective – these two areas account for approximately 90% of referrals to young people’s treatment, joint working with the PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) as well as various other successful interventions.

vii)          Issues and Challenges were discussed and the pressure points for the service were included in the report.

viii)        The last 2-3 years has seen an increase in complex patients presenting to the service, in particular in relation to County Lines and patients using Xanax.

ix)           Patients often require more resource intensive and longer-term treatment packages. This is impacting on practitioner case load capacity and the staff to learn new skill sets and working practices to offer the support these young people require which differs from the more traditional cannabis and alcohol user which the service has been use dot treating in the past.

x)            The range of support that is available to young people post treatment has reduced which has posed some challenges around referring young people out of treatment and back into targeted or universal support services.

xi)           Both Adult and Young service users are likely to be a gross underrepresentation of actual treatment needs in the borough and there is an information gap about links with organised crime and other signal crimes such as prostitution and ASB.

xii)          Public Health England have suggested actions that will assist in working with families and children affected by substance misuse. Details of these actions are included in the report.

The following comments/questions were raised:

·         There is a real issue around the use of Xanax, which many young people are using to self-medicate for anxiety and stress. It is also used in the grooming of young girls. The best intervention about using these types of drugs is in the classroom/school therefore going forward there does need to be some outreach funding in schools to enable this type of work to take place.

·         Drug types for young people entering the service are usually skunk and cocaine, but once they enter into treatment there are a lot of opportunities to address the use of these and other drug types.

·         The link between permanent exclusion in schools and crime is extremely high therefore it was important to raise the aspirations of young people in schools. The Parent Engagement Panel are looking into having volunteers and mentors in schools to offer guidance and support in various areas such as the transition from GCSEs to

A-Levels and A-Levels to University.

·         It was felt that more work needed to be done to reduce the numbers of permanent exclusions in schools thereby keeping young people off the streets as there is a definite correlation between crime and permanent exclusions.

·         Work is ongoing to raise awareness around the use of nitrous oxide cannisters and drug work with Enfield’s Youth Offending service continues.

·         The Crime Scrutiny Panel noted the report and looked forward to receiving updates on future progress.

The Chair thanked Andrea for her interesting report.