§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are being used to assess the success of the drugs courts pilot schemes. [82884]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthDrug courts are not presently being piloted in England and Wales, but the STEP Project, a court based treatment initiative, ran in Wakefield and Pontefract from summer 1998 to autumn 2000. The nearest comparison now is with the court review process of the drug treatment and testing order (DTTO), which shares with drug courts in other jurisdictions sentencer review of the progress of offenders.
The Government believe that getting drug misusing offenders into treatment through court-based interventions can be effective in reducing drug misuse and crime, and officials are currently developing proposals for piloting drug courts drawing upon the good practice of dedicated DTTO review courts.