§ 7. Jackie Ballard (Taunton)If he will make a statement on the availability of drug treatment facilities for offenders. [116791]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Paul Boateng)A key element of the Government's crime reduction strategy is to get drug misusing offenders into treatment and thereby reduce drug-related crime.
Initiatives in hand include piloting the drug treatment and testing order and development of arrest referral.
§ Jackie BallardI thank the Minister for that response. I am sure that he will be aware of the recent report of Viscountess Runciman of Doxford and the comments within it that it is important that diversion via the criminal justice system does not distort the use of current drug treatment services or the allocation of future resources at the expense of the majority of problem drug users who do not commit crime or who, with effective treatment, could be prevented from committing crime in future. In the light of those comments, what targets will the right hon. Gentleman be setting for the maximum time that anyone, offender or not, should have to wait for drug treatment?
§ Mr. BoatengWe will not be setting targets, but we will be working closely with the Department of Health, with a view to recruiting about 300 drug workers to complement the existing facilities. There is, as the hon. Lady has identified, a capacity issue. By April 2001, we have a target of 685 drug workers to be recruited and trained. We believe that that will ensure that the concerns that Viscountess Runciman expressed are not realised.
§ Mr. Martin Linton (Battersea)Does my right hon. Friend agree that the drug treatment programmes will be more successful if a significant number of the drug workers are recruited from outside agencies that have built up expertise, mainly by using former addicts, who have far more credibility in the eyes of prisoners?
§ Mr. BoatengWe know from experience in the prison service that the voluntary sector, including the use of people who have hands-on, day-to-day experience of having to cope with drug problems in their own life, can make a real and appreciable difference to the success rate in turning people around from drugs.
Pilot projects in relation to work between the probation service, the police and drug addicts have used the voluntary sector. That has proved extremely successful, reducing average drug expenditure from £400 a week to £70, with a corresponding decrease in reliance on crime. That is good news, and the voluntary sector has a vital role to play.
§ Mr. Peter Lilley(Hitchin and Harpenden): Does the Minister accept that many drug addicts finance their habit by crime? Yet in many areas where addicts wish to break the habit and go on a methadone withdrawal programme, they face a waiting list. They are told to go away and 14 continue financing the habit, and return in a few months. How does the hon. Gentleman reconcile his rather complacent answer with this extraordinary situation?
§ Mr. BoatengThe answer is not complacent. We have recognised the need to recruit more drug workers and we are doing so. The right hon. Gentleman should reflect on the experience of his time in office and compare it to what we are doing now. This Government have made available an extra £217 million to tackle the deficit in treatment, and that is money that would never have been provided had he been returned to office at the general election.
§ Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)Has the Minister seen the comment made by a spokesman for RAPT—the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust—that while the number of people in prison who suffer from alcohol dependency or whose crimes involve alcohol misuse greatly outnumbers those dependent on illegal drugs, the amount spent on illegal drug misuse in prisons is some £70 million but virtually nothing is spent on alcohol offenders? Why is that?
§ Mr. BoatengIt is certainly not true to say that nothing is spent. Not as much is spent on alcohol abuse as is spent on drug abuse, but we recognise that the two are increasingly linked. It is important that we have in place the treatment facilities that deal with both where appropriate, and that is what we seek to do.
§ Mr. Nick Hawkins(Surrey Heath): Does the Minister recognise that his policies of letting out more than 2,000 convicted drug dealers and more than 200 international drug traffickers are putting ever more strain on drug treatment facilities? Was not his and the Prime Minister's slogan "Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime" just another bogus slogan?
§ Mr. BoatengNo, because the figures to which the hon. Gentleman refers disguise the fact that the home detention curfew scheme has had a success rate of more than 90 per cent. He and his party supported the proposal on the Home Affairs Committee and his party did not vote against it when it had the opportunity to do so in the House. The scheme is working and it is about better protecting the public, which we intend to continue.