Drug Abuse: School Advisers (Hansard, 26 November 1985)

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science has announced several relevant measures including the publication of guidance on drugs misuse which has been made available to teachers and youth workers, the preparation of curricula and teaching materials for use in the education service and the appointment by local education authorities of drug advisers funded by the education support grant.

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend for that quite encouraging Answer. May I ask him what steps are being taken to ensure that teachers coming into the profession receive adequate training in regard to drug abuse?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I think that this will be greatly helped by the appointment of LEA drug advisers. These are expected to increase advice and support for schools and colleges and to provide more training for their staff, as well as to improve liaison with the work of other local agencies. It is extremely encouraging to know that each of the 97 local education authorities has made a bid for the education support grant to fund the appointment of these drug advisers.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, does the Minister agree that there are some local authorities which will not allow the police in? It seems rather odd and strange that they should take an attitude of that kind. On the question of drugs education, one would have thought that certain types of policemen were absolutely essential in talking to youngsters about what they should do and how they should report anything to the authorities. Therefore, the police are a must. What will the Government do about those local authorities that are stupid enough not to allow the police in?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I agree very strongly with what the noble Lord, Lord Mellish, has said. Obviously if the police can go in and talk about drugs, 788 that is an extremely good thing. It is encouraging, as I said, that every single local authority has made a bid for these drug advisers. In fact, these bids are now being considered and will be announced later this year. We hope that their appointment may encourage some of those more reluctant authorities to ask the police for advice.

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, what provision is there for exemplary punishment of those who supply drugs to the young?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I think that legislation on these lines will shortly be put in front of your Lordships.

§ Baroness Macleod of Borve
My Lords, may I ask my noble friend the Minister whether he will try to involve the parents, through the parent-teacher associations, in the studies that are being made in the schools?

§ The Earl of Swinton
Yes, my Lords. I am in favour of this, and I hope that it will be done. Again, I think that when these drug advisers are appointed this is just the sort of thing that they are likely to encourage.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, can the Minister say what is being done to combat and apprehend the purveyors of these drugs to young children and the vicious chains that stretch from airports and ports? That is where these drugs emanate and from where they spread to all the community, including the children we are talking about this afternoon.

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I think that there are a number of measures being taken.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, may I ask my noble kinsman whether he feels that individual teachers and schools are doing enough? For instance, do the schools have a designated teacher who is expert in drugs misuse in each school, as recommended by one of the Select Committees?

§ The Earl of Swinton
Again, my Lords, it is hoped that when we have these LEA drug advisers this is the sort of thing on which they will concentrate.

§ Lord Ritchie of Dundee
My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether, in view of the gravity of the situation in which, for example, a few weeks ago a boy of 14 died in Liverpool as a result of heroin poisoning, and while children younger than that are getting involved in the use of soft drugs, any consideration can be given to the possibility of some sort of national broadcast, or series of broadcasts, which will warn parents and children and anyone who has to do with children of the dangers that beset them?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, among a number of schemes for which the Department of Education and Science has provided money, some £25,000 has been provided towards market research by Andrew Irving Associates to ascertain how a publicity campaign should be directed.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, as we have this Question this afternoon, does the Minister agree that these drugs are reaching British children? Therefore, is it not significant and a fact that the preventive measures are insufficient? Will he please answer the question? What ought to be done, what might be done, and will there be an improvement in the future in preventing these drugs from reaching British classrooms?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, the Question on the Order Paper is: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action is being taken in schools to combat the wide abuse of drugs by young people. That is the Question.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, may I ask my noble kinsman whether he is aware that many of us would like to congratulate Bob Dunn, the Under-Secretary at the Department of Education, on his very good drugs book, Drug Misuse and the Young, which has been sent to education authorities?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble kinswoman for that supplementary question, and of course I shall pass on what she has said to my honourable friend. I should say that this booklet has been extremely well received. I think that over 100,000 copies have now been supplied round the country, which is far more than the usual request for pamphlets produced by the DES.

Lord Paget of Northampton
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that while physical punishment has proved quite ineffective in preventing crimes of violence, dope peddlers are of a very different type, and that a public whipping might be most effective and cheap?

§ The Earl of Swinton
My Lords, I am answering on behalf of the Government, and I am being briefed by the Department of Education and Science. I think we are moving slightly wide of the Question. I think of myself as a public Whip today, and I think perhaps we have had long enough on this Question.