§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what resources his Department make available to local authorities to help them combat drug abuse. [48857]
§ Dr. WhiteheadThe Government provide general grant for revenue expenditure through the local government finance settlement. It is for the local authorities themselves to determine how much of these resources they direct towards combating drug abuse. Government also provides the following ring-fenced grants to local authorities
A grant to support local Young People's Substance Misuse Planning (set at £4.5 million for 2002–03);A grant for drug prevention in schools, provided through the Schools Standards Fund (£9.5 million for 2002–03).The majority of earmarked funding for combating drug abuse is provided to local Drug Action Teams, within which the local authorities have a key role. Details of this funding were given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Anti-Drugs Co-ordination 1088W and Organised Crime in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) on 29 January 2002, Official Report, columns 295–96W.