The Government are committed to reducing substance misuse related harm among young people, including harm arising from the misuse of drugs, alcohol and volatile substances. Education and awareness on these substances is a vital element of the current approach, and we have issued schools with guidance on drugs education. DCSF does not provide ring-fenced funding for schools’ drug education lessons, which are funded from schools’ general budgets.
The Government provide ring-fenced funding to prevent substance misuse among young people. The Young People’s Substance Misuse Partnership Grant (YPSMPG) is made available to local authorities for the provision of universal, targeted and specialist responses commissioned and delivered locally, based on their area's needs and priorities. The grant funds a range of different projects across the country determined at local level, which are available for young people.
The grant brings together into a single pot, funding from the Home Office, the Department of Health, the Youth Justice Board and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The following table details the total YPSMPG expenditure for the past five years (note that the first year, 2003/04, was a pilot year in 27 local authority areas):
£ million 2003/04 114.9 2004/05 58.8 2005/06 66.6 2006/07 64.1 2007/08 55.5 1 Pilot year in only 27 local authorities
The YPSMPG is used in addition to mainstream funding to provide a comprehensive range of services for young people up to 18 years:
Universal—substance misuse education, information and advice and prevention campaigns
Targeted—early identification, assessment and prevention interventions with vulnerable young people in risk groups
Specialist—provision of specialist substance misuse treatment for under 18’s
In addition to supporting the work of local partnerships, the Government fund specific programmes targeting messages for young people about substances, including the Frank campaign which has become a credible source of information and advice for young people and their parents. The cross departmental campaign was launched in 2003 funded by Home Office and Department of Health, with the Department for Children Schools and Families contributing from 2006/07.
£ million 2003/04 4.25 2004/05 4.30 2005/06 6.17 2006/07 9.05
The Government are committed to expanding and improving the quality of school drug education (inc. tobacco, alcohol, volatile substance), through encouraging the development of well structured high quality programmes of PSHE across all key stages. The National Health Schools Standard requires schools to demonstrate effective PSHE provision. The Government have also invested over £6 million on Blueprint, the largest research programme ever run in this country designed to test the effectiveness of a multi-component approach to drug education, involving an intensive set of school lessons for 11 to 13-year-olds supported by work with parents, communities, health professionals and local media. The full results of the programme will be available over the next 12 months or so.
The Department of Health lead on the Framework for Volatile Substance Abuse targeted at children and young people (launched on 20 July 2005). The document called “Out of Sight?...not out of mind” outlines a number of key recommendations that the Government intend to take forward in partnership with key stakeholders at local, regional and national level.
The stated aims of the VSA Framework are to:
Provide effective education on VSA to all children and young people, including the most disadvantaged
Provide effective targeted interventions for children and young people abusing or at risk of abusing volatile substances
Reduce the availability and accessibility of volatile substances, with a focus on butane gas lighter refills
Build the capacity of parents, carers and practitioners to identify and work effectively with children and young people who are abusing or at risk of abusing volatile substances
Increase the evidence base with regard to what works in reducing deaths and harm from VSA.