Birmingham Community Safety Partnership is fully committed to tackling the harm caused by illegal drugs to individuals, their families and many of our communities.  The Drug Action Team (DAT) is the arm of the partnership charged with the responsibility of delivering preventative and treatment interventions for young people and adults, empowering local communities to tackle drug related problems by working with partners, and joining up treatment services to offenders who misuse drugs so as to divert them from criminal behaviour.

This year DAT surpassed the local and national targets for numbers in treatment and continues in its efforts to make annual improvement to ensure more rapid access to treatment services.  Waiting times have also reduced significantly over the past two years with five out of six treatment modalities now meeting the target waiting time of two and three weeks.

The development of GPs delivering drug treatment in their surgeries (shared care) has been crucial to ensuring access to services for drug users.   Targets for GPs prescribing to drug users in the community have also been exceeded.  There are now 53% of GPs prescribing which represents 43% of all practices across the city. The increasing target for 2006/07 will focus on recruiting GPs working in Districts where the incidence of drug use by residence is higher.

A full range of drug treatment services are available across Birmingham and there is a growing network of drug users, parents, carers and concerned others contributing to their planning, commissioning and evaluation.

The workforce in drug treatment has grown from having approximately 80 members of staff to the current workforce level of over 700 (including GPs).  Treatment also includes services available to vulnerable client groups including sex workers and rough sleepers.  Aftercare is a growing component of treatment and includes all those areas that are required for successful integration into the community.  These include housing and tenancy support, employment and specialist work programmes, training and education programmes and support groups.

Strong progress has been made in the delivery of the young people’s drug agenda.  Birmingham was designated as one of 30 'High Focus' areas last year and excellent progress has already been made in developing joint commissioning arrangements and linkages with the Birmingham Children and Young People’s Partnership.

Priorities for 2006/07 will focus on strengthening dedicated young people's drug treatment interventions, the implementation of a dedicated workforce development agenda, the development of more culturally competent services and the enhancement of preventative interventions within schools, voluntary and community groups.  There are currently over 400 young people under 18 receiving treatment interventions for drug and substance misuse in Birmingham.  The provision of effective and timely treatment and wrap around interventions to support and protect young drug users and their families, along with preventing other young people from addiction, remains a fundamental priority for the Drug Action Team.

The Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) has now been implemented across Birmingham.  DIP is a partnership between the police, probation, prisons, health and statutory and voluntary agencies which provides joined up treatment services to offenders who misuse drugs.   The aim is to divert them from criminal behaviour and reduce the harm they cause to themselves, their families and the community.

Throughout 2005/06, drug testing on charge continued at all 9 police stations in Birmingham. At each police station offenders are assessed in custody by dedicated arrest referral workers.  There are currently around 500 drug tests conducted every month, of which approximately 48% test positive for Class A drugs.  These include heroin, crack, cocaine or a mixture of these drugs.  During the period April 05 to March 06, 5,752 tests were carried out in Birmingham, of which 2,733 were positive.

New Government legislation was successfully introduced in April 2005, which enables criminal courts to impose a condition of bail on offenders who test positive to undergo an assessment of their drug use and receive any follow-up treatment.   This is known as 'Restriction on Bail' (ROB) and failure to comply with these orders results in return to court.   There is an average of 50 Restrictions on Bail made in Birmingham every month with the majority engaging in treatment and successfully completing their bail period.

Birmingham is breaking new ground by linking DIP with the Prolific and Other Priority Offender programme, a Community Safety Partnership intervention that seeks to catch, convict, resettle and rehabilitate those offenders who cause concern and problems to communities across the City.  At any one time approximately 250 offenders are targeted by the programme.

In October 2005, Birmingham City Council signed up to a three year Local Public Service Agreement that seeks to retain 55% of Prolific and Other Priority Offenders in drug treatment for a twelve week period.  There is strong commitment to achieving this target across the partnership and performance for the first 6 months shows that we are already on target.

Birmingham DAT is also developing and supporting interventions to empower and develop the skills competencies of local voluntary, faith and community groups.  The aim is to enable them to engage with the prevention and treatment agenda and assist us in tackling local drug problems.  Early successes include:

• Developing joint intervention with BCC Economic Development to create pathways to employment in the drug sector for people from black minority ethnic communities.
• The creation of a dedicated Drug Volunteer Scheme to increase the number of volunteers supporting the drug field from hard to reach communities.
• The creation of a community and voluntary group capacity building fund to offer small grants to local drug and community safety focused groups with a particular focus on faith based organisations.

Joint working with district based Local Delivery Groups will continue to be strengthened to ensure that local people feel able and confident to tackle the damage caused by illegal drugs to their neighbourhoods and local residents.

During 2006/07 the delivery of the interventions outlined in the Birmingham Drug Availability Strategy will be a key priority so as to build on the success of drug dealing operations like Operation Impact, an undercover police and DAT operation that resulted in the arrest and charge of over 40 drug dealers.

Useful Links:

• Birmingham Drug Action Team (DAT)
• Birmingham Drug Related Services

Useful telephone numbers

For help and advice about drugs and services in the Birmingham area you can call the following Community Drug Teams (CDTs):

City-wide Services

• Drugline:  Dale House, New Meeting Street, Birmingham, B4 7SX.  Tel - 0121 632 6363

• Drug Solutions:  Suite 16-23, Ruskin Chambers, 191 Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6RP.  Tel - 0121 233 7400

For general information on young people and drug services, talk to FRANK on 0800 77 66 00 or visit www.talktofrank.com

The Birmingham Drug Intervention Programme aims to reduce drug related crime by offering advice and help to offenders who want to enter drig treatment.  Contact the Drug Intervention Programme on 0121 301 1440 (9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday) or via the 24 hour information line on 0800 073 2052.

If you or someone you know has a problem with drugs, the Birmingham Drug Action Team can help.  Our work spreads across communities and engages a number of other organisations who work together to reduce the harm caused by drugs.

If you or a young person you know needs help with a drug problem, please contact your local young people’s drug treatment service at:

  HIAH (Holistic Innovative Approaches to Health) on 0121 662 7780

Or

Talk to Frank on 0800 77 66 00 at www.talktofrank.com