Drug And Alcohol Abuse

Mr. Hood
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of the number of instances of drug and alcohol abuse reported to the children's panel.

Mr. Lang
This information is not separately available. Drug and alcohol abuse are not by themselves grounds under section 32 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 for referral to a children's hearing to consider compulsory measures of care. They may often be a feature of greater behavioural problems which attract such grounds as "beyond parental control" or "lack of parental care".