Summary
The Drug Treatment and Testing Order (The Order)
is a community sentence intended for drug misusers who have a
significant record of drug-related offending, and it has been
used as an alternative to custody. The Order requires offenders
to submit to regular drug testing, to attend intensive treatment
and rehabilitation programmes and to have their progress reviewed
regularly by the courts. Offenders on the Order are supervised
by local probation teams. The main requirements of the Order are
set by the Home Office and are summarised at Figure 1.
The main focus for probation teams to date has been
the delivery of annual targets for the number of commencements
on the Order. But the main challenge faced by probation teams
is keeping often chaotic drug misusers on an intensive and highly
structured programme long enough to achieve sustained reductions
in drug misuse and offending behaviour. Only 28% of around 5,700
Orders terminated in 2003 had reached full term or had been revoked
early for good progress, with significant variations in completion
rates around the country. The National Offender Management Service
report, however, that offending is reduced for each week an offender
is kept on the programme.
Local probation and drug treatment teams have adopted
a wide variety of different approaches to delivering the main
requirements of the Order ranging from how they select offenders
for the Order, the content and quality of rehabilitation programmes
provided, such as education programmes, and their approach to
enforcement. The methods adopted locally are likely to have an
important influence on how effective programmes are in keeping
offenders on the programme, but better data is needed to pinpoint
which methods work best. Some areas have had difficulty fulfilling
the main requirements of the Order. Only 44% of cases monitored
by probation areas between July and October 2003 showed evidence
that the minimum of 15 contact hours per week during the first
13 weeks of the Order had been arranged.
Some offenders have commented on the difficulty of
breaking a drug habit if they continue to live in accommodation
shared with other drug misusers, and some have reported difficulties
in obtaining benefits such as Job Seekers' Allowance whilst on
the Order. Other offenders, who have made progress on the Order,
have reported concern about the level of support available when
they come off the Order.Figure
1: Key elements of the National Standard for the management of
the Drug Treatment and Testing Order
Assessment
Assessment of suitability for the Order should usually
be part of the presentence report. Where assessment needs
to be completed after presentation of the pre-sentence report
to the Court this should be done within 5 working days.
Supervision and treatment
After an Order has been made by the Court, the offender's
first appointment with the Probation Service shall be arranged
to take place within one working day and with the treatment provider
within two working days of the Order.
Contact, including treatment, for the first 13 weeks
of the Order shall usually be on five days a week for a total
of twenty hours a week, with a minimum of 15 hours a week and
after the first 13 weeks, this may be reduced to a minimum of
three days a week, for 12 hours a week, with a minimum of 9 hours
a week. Contact with the offender should include treatment, offence
focused work and lifestyle programmes.
Testing
For the first 13 weeks of the Order, the offender
must be tested at least twice a week, thereafter at least once
a week. If the offender admits in writing to having used drugs
recently, testing shall not always be required.
Positive drugs tests should be confirmed through
laboratory testing unless the offender admits to drug use.
Court reviews
Probation areas are expected to propose to courts
that Court reviews take place once a month for the first four
months and quarterly thereafter.
Supervising officers must provide a report to the
Court on the offender's progress, including the results of drug
tests, the views of treatment providers, the offender's attendance
record, and the supervisor's assessment of the offender's attitude
and response to the Order.
Enforcement
Breach action may be taken after once unacceptable
failure and if not the offender must be given a formal warning.
Breach action must be taken following the second
unacceptable failure in any 12 month period.
Source: National Audit Office summary of National
Probation Service, PC25/2001 National Standard for the Drug Treatment
and Testing Order
On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor
General,[1] we examined
the National Probation Directorate and the National Treatment
Agency for Substance Misuse on the impact of the Order, improving
the delivery of the Order, and reducing the risk of relapse.
We also visited the West London Drug Treatment and
Testing Team, based in West Ealing, on 11 May 2004.
1 C&AG's Report, The Drug Treatment and Testing
Order: early lessons (HC 366, Session 2003-04) Back
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