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Mr. Allen: The private sector has done tremendous work raising money to assist the development of the materials necessary to spread the word. However, I am sure that the Minister is aware that we would enter a quantitatively different ball game if we were to extend DARE to 42 counties and many more police forces. The effort of co-ordination needed compared to the current level would be like comparing collecting money with a tin can to a highly organised, systematic fund-raising strategy. I hope that the Minister will take away from the debate tonight the need for some real muscle to be put behind fund raising by the private sector by the Government nationally.
Mrs. Gillan: I shall take away a lot from the debate. I have been very pleased by the success of the drugs challenge fund. In the first year, it successfully raised more than £1 million from the private sector for local drug prevention initiatives. I note the hon. Gentleman's point and I shall draw it to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Lord President.
This evening, we have talked a lot about the DARE approach, but there is no one simple or magical answer to drug prevention. There are other approaches. Other professionals will have a contribution to make in the delivery of drug education. Schools can choose from a range of materials. While I know that guidance from my Department, not least on ensuring the helpful contribution of outside agencies and on selecting materials, has assisted schools in those choices, it is quite right that schools must have those choices. Beyond the requirements of the national curriculum, which lays down what must be taught about drugs at each key stage, schools must look at their own needs and circumstances to determine what will be best for them. I noted the hon. Gentleman's comments about potential changes to the national curriculum, but he will be aware that there is a moratorium on altering it until 2000.
The Government have provided leadership. They are taking a responsible approach to ensuring that the needs of all our pupils are appropriately addressed. That applies equally to the police and, quite rightly, it is for chief officers to determine the approach of their forces in light of local needs and priorities.
Drug education is an area where schools may, initially, feel a little lost. Teachers may not feel confident in dealing with a subject about which they know very little, and whose jargon and subject matter can change rapidly. It is all too tempting for schools to learn to rely on other agencies to deliver their drug education for them. As I have said, schools have, generally, grasped the nettle of drug education and been prepared to overcome their fears and sensitivities to give it the attention it deserves, but
leaning too heavily on others will not help our young people. Even in schools enjoying the support of programmes such as DARE, drug education must have a place in the curriculum before officers visit, and again after the programme is completed.
Mrs. Gillan:
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman agrees. So long as that message is recognised, and outside involvement is acknowledged to be a strong sharing of responsibility and not an abdication of responsibility, such partnerships can be a powerful force for good. I am full of praise for the contribution that the police forces in England are making to education in their areas. Alongside the pioneering Nottinghamshire force and its use of the DARE approach, police forces in Derbyshire, Hampshire and Staffordshire, among others, are working with schools on other comprehensive drug education schemes, such as "Getting It Right".
Elsewhere, police forces have produced policy documents and materials for use in schools. There is much evidence of the commitment that the police show to effective drug prevention work in our schools. It is a partnership that, at every level, can have only positive benefits. As the recent inspection of force drug strategies by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary noted:
The head teacher of my local school has told me about young people in the class that was taken by the local bobby. Before, their ability to communicate, even with children in their class, had atrophied. They were not stimulated at home, but they were stimulated by the police officer so that they started to interact with others in their class and to develop a wider range of social skills. That is a wonderful example of the work of DARE.
Mrs. Gillan:
I am prepared to let an intervention continue for a long time when it is so agreeable. The hon. Gentleman's enthusiasm is a joy to see, and I share it.
The inspectorate of constabulary continued:
The hon. Gentleman made several points about police budgets and the distribution of resources confiscated from drug traffickers. The Home Secretary has provided an extra £20 million in 1996-97 for 1,000 more police
officers and a further £40 million in the coming financial year for 2,000 more officers, but it rightly remains for chief officers to decide how to allocate their resources. I make no apology for the fact that strong enforcement measures remain a key element of our strategy. Nevertheless, I was interested in the hon. Gentleman's comments and I am prepared to pass them on to Home Office Ministers. My right hon. Friend the Lord President listened carefully to what the hon. Gentleman had to say. We are, after all, pursuing the same ultimate goal.
DARE, in common with other approaches to drug education, aims to equip our young people with the skills to make informed, healthy choices. Ultimately, all the efforts expended on drug prevention and education depend on individuals and the choices that each of us makes. It goes further than health education; it centres around young people's personal and social development. We shall consider carefully all those matters when the School Curriculum Assessment Authority presents its replies to the Secretary of State shortly.
Mr. Allen:
The Minister has been very positive in replying to the debate. Governments do what they can, regardless of party, but the ball is in the court of those outside this place who read the debate and who care about tackling drugs. Be they chief constables, parents, teachers or even children, if they happen to read the debate in Hansard, I hope that they seize the opportunities offered by the Minister to move forward on the DARE agenda. I am grateful for your indulgence, Mr. Deputy Speaker and that of the Minister. The debate must not end here. The people who care about the initiative must help the
Mrs. Gillan:
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. It is not simply about personally rejecting drugs but about not turning a blind eye, not casually accepting drugs as someone else's problem or some other family's tragedy. It is about making it plain, whatever the short-term high and whatever the style gurus say, that drugs are damaging to the individual, the family, the community and the country. It is about confronting drug misuse and making it clear that it is not tolerable and not worth it. It is about explaining rationally not only the risks that the individual misuser is toying with, but their wider social impact. They feed local crime and provide a market for greedy opportunists.
Ecstasy misusers may regard their drug taking as a bit of harmless fun, but their decision to take the drug not only places their health at risk but places them at the end of a chain of supply that is inevitably involved in criminality. It is the sum of those individual decisions that nurtures the greed and feeds the misery that drugs bring with them. All the Government's efforts on drugs are focused on defeating that greed. Any other approach is simply the efficient management of moral decline--an approach that the Government will never countenance.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this important subject. I hope that I have replied to him fully. I am comforted that we are in full agreement about the way in which to go about tackling drugs together.
Question put and agreed to.
"Police forces have responded with commitment and enthusiasm to drug prevention and education in schools, in consultation with local education authorities."
Mr. Allen:
Although the word drug appears in the title of DARE, the programme is not only, or even mainly, about drugs. It is about giving young people the ability, as well-rounded and educated young people, to make decisions and choices, instead of having those decisions and choices forced on them. That is what DARE brings to the equation and its approach is applicable to drugs, drink and cigarette smoking. It is also applicable to many other areas, and it is an important part of the social education of young people. It is worth repeating that DARE's impact goes well beyond its effect on the drug culture. It helps to develop human beings who are capable of interacting with other people rationally and productively.
"Many varied approaches have been adopted, reflecting the needs of differing communities and environments".
It was noticed how well police forces had responded.
26 Feb 1997 : Column 409Adjourned accordingly at twelve minutes past Eight o'clock.
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