§ Mr. SalterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the change in the number of drug deaths in Reading in the last 12 months and his strategy to combat the spread of hard drugs. [31347]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthThe number of drug-related deaths for the Reading unitary area held by the Office for National Statistics are in the table.
Number of deaths 1998 9 1999 6 2000 15 Reading has a new dedicated Drug Action Team (DAT), which is continuing to address the problems of drug misuse highlighted as issues when Reading was part of the Berkshire DAT. Reading DAT is carrying out a needs analysis to quantify the local drugs misuse problem and, in line with all DATs, is preparing a drug action plan for submission to the Home Office by the end of April.
The Government are determined to reduce the number of drug-related deaths. That is why we have published an action plan which sets out all the activities that need to be taken over a three-five year period to reduce drug-related deaths by 20 per cent. by 2004. The plan covers three strands:
campaigns—to increase the awareness and skills of those working in the drug sector and drug users;better surveillance and monitoring—because we are concerned that precise levels of drug-related deaths are not clearly identified and;research—to improve the information on causes of drug-related death and provide advice on strategies and service approaches.We know we need to be more effective in tackling the harms caused by Class A drugs. The action plan is one of the measures we are taking to increase the focus on harm minimisation, which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 October 2001. He also announced his intention to seek advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on their assessment for reclassifying cannabis from Class B to Class C, the setting up a group of key experts to tackle the treatment of crack cocaine addiction and, with the Department of Health, the development of new guidance for heroin prescribing.