National Mission on Drugs: annual report 2022-2023

Outcome 1: Fewer People develop Problem Drug Use

3.1 Overview

This outcome focusses on fewer people developing problem drug use, education and prevention, early access to support for emerging problem drug use and reducing the supply of harmful drugs.

Prevention, where possible, is the best intervention. Effective prevention requires a whole-systems response, and our approach sits within the government’s wider commitment to address inequalities and the wider social determinants of health.

A comprehensive approach to early intervention for young people sits alongside our Whole Family Approach Framework (See Outcome 6) to support the delivery of The Promise by making significant change in the way services work with families. This is supported by an additional £6.5 million funding, £3.5 million directly to ADPs and £3 million for the Children and Families Fund.

3.2 Progress in 2022-23

3.2.1 Early Intervention and Prevention

Adverse Childhood Experiences

We know that many people started their drug and alcohol use at an early age and that many had adverse childhood experiences. The Early Intervention approaches being developed aim to help young people who are at risk of developing problem substance use.

Parental drug use can have a traumatic impact on children and there is a risk that drug use becomes intergenerational. We are investing nearly £4 million to expand the successful Routes model which supports young people with substance use in their families. Routes, established by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, supports young people affected by familial substance use in a holistic way to meet their own goals as well as introducing young people to others facing similar issues to them. This is being expanded in to six new areas of Scotland.

The working group on Early Interventions for Children and Young People (EICYPWG) has recruited a specialist contractor to conduct a co-design process with young people. This, alongside academic and international evidence, will form the basis of standards for young people’s drug and alcohol services. This started in February 2023 and is due to conclude in October 2023. A period of engagement will follow before the standards are finalised and published.

In February 2023 we surveyed ADPs to understand what specific service provision currently exists for children and young people with emerging problematic drug and alcohol use. The results will feed into the standards work as we seek to share good practice and identify gaps.

Case Study: Rosemount Lifelong Learning

Through the Corra administered Children & Families Fund we are supporting Rosemount Lifelong Learning in Glasgow with £69,150 per year. Rosemount deliver 1:1 and group support to children and young people living in an environment where drugs and alcohol are prevalent. Activities focus on drug and alcohol awareness, sexual health, independent living and grief and loss. A participant of the programme stated that by being involved with Rosemount they have gained more confidence in themselves than they ever thought possible.

Public Health Scotland have been commissioned to produce a consensus statement to provide an agreed expert view and understanding on where efforts should lie in improving practice and associated outcomes for children and young people. The purpose is to gather the views of a panel of experts on the essential components of a system-wide approach to preventing substance use and harms. This will be used to support planning and delivery.

In 2022/23 PHS undertook the first round of interviews with experts as part of the Delphi Method to develop a consensus statement on substance use prevention. This work continues with an agreed position on a public health approach to substance use prevention to be finalised later this year.

A whole government approach: Education

A review of Personal and Social Education (PSE Review) was carried out in 2018 that recommended a number of new measures to provide schools with the resources and support to address issues facing young people today. Health and wellbeing are one of the three core areas that are the responsibility of all staff in the school. A Delivery and Implementation Group has been formed which is jointly chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA. The deadline for delivering these recommendations is September 2023.

Under the heading of ‘risk taking behaviours’, substance use is one of the priority areas a school nurse can support young people with, and the Scottish Government continues to promote the role of the school nurse and their strong focus on prevention, early intervention and support for the most vulnerable school aged children and young people. The role of a school nurse centres around 10 priority areas for intervention which can influence poor health in later life.

Since 2019/20, the Scottish Government has provided £23.1m to allow Health Boards to recruit additional school nurses.

3.2.2 Whole Government approach: Tackling Child Poverty

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the Scottish Government – alongside our focus on the economy and strengthening public services. In 2022-23, the Scottish Government took a range of actions to provide immediate support to families impacted by the cost of living crisis and to drive forward progress toward the ambitious targets set by the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. This included delivering the planned expansion and further increase in the value of our Scottish Child Payment; investing £84 million in Discretionary Housing Payments to support people with housing costs and mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax and Benefit Cap; introducing legislation to freeze rents in the private and social rented sector and increase protections for tenants in response to the cost of living crisis; and doubling investment in our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23, which will be tripled to £30 million in 2023-24.

Alongside our action to provide immediate support to families, we have also taken positive steps to develop areas of future support, in particular continuing to implement Whole Family Wellbeing Funding backed by initial investment of £32 million in 2022/23. This is:

• driving whole-system change to deliver a long-term shift towards earlier, preventative intervention;
• commencing work on a new phased approach to whole-system change in Dundee and Glasgow, bringing together partners and services to deliver more holistic support, use resources more efficiently and build people’s trust that public services will deliver the support they need;
• publishing our Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, setting out our approach to expanding our childcare offer over the rest of this Parliament; and
• beginning the early phasing-in of community-level systems of school age childcare targeted to support families from low-income households.

In the coming year we will continue to focus on strengthening the support available to families in order to mitigate the ongoing cost of living crisis and to break the cycle of child poverty in Scotland.

3.2.3 Whole Government approach: Tackling supply of harmful drugs

Serious organised crime is no respecter of borders or any of society’s norms and Scotland is not immune from its impact. The Scottish Government and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce are fully committed to tackling and reducing the harm it causes to our communities. This includes disrupting the activities of organised crime groups and holding them to account for the harm they cause to our communities and businesses, particularly our most vulnerable.

Police Scotland and other law enforcement agencies continue to have significant operational success and, through the UK-wide Operation Venetic, have removed substantial quantities of drugs from our streets making a number of arrests in the process. Some examples of operational success included the recovery of cocaine with an estimated street value of around £250,000 in Moray, £500,000 worth of cannabis in Lanarkshire, and a county lines gang that was jailed for a total of 22 years following the seizure of a significant amount of cash and Class A drugs.