July 27, 2006: Probation Inspectorate On Substance Misuse Work

A new HM Inspectorate of Probation report  on the National Probation Service’s substance misuse work with offenders shows a substantial improvement in the availability of treatment for drug misusing offenders, but a continuing scarcity of treatment for alcohol misusers.

In recent years there has been a significant shift in the treatment of drug misusing offenders from one that focused on the health perspective to one that recognises involvement in the criminal justice system as a legitimate catalyst for treatment. The widespread use of drug treatment as a condition of a court order for offenders has increased.

The inspection found that this expansion of drug treatment availability (which is commissioned mainly by Drug & Alcohol Action Teams) had led to all probation areas being able to deliver treatment for offenders promptly, with over 14,000 offenders starting treatment as part of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders or Drug Rehabilitation Orders in 2005/2006, compared to 4,800 in 2001/2002.

However in contrast to these significant changes in the availability of drug treatment, the inspection also found that, despite considerable evidence of the prevalence of serious alcohol misuse among offenders, too few treatment services were available to address alcohol misuse.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Bridges, Chief Inspector of Probation, says:

“In view of the association between substance misuse and offending, the contribution of the National Probation Service towards reducing offending by substance misusing offenders, in partnership with others, is very important. The inspection concludes that there has been an enormous – and very welcome – improvement in the availability of treatment for drug misusing offenders. However, in contrast, there continues to be a scarcity of treatment for alcohol misusers. In this respect, the glass is truly ‘Half Full and Half Empty’. It will be important that more alcohol treatment services are made available in order to meet the identified level of need, and so help contribute to a reduction in re-offending.”

The report makes a number of recommendations, including a number to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).  It is recommended taht NOMS should ensure that:

• More alcohol treatment services are made available in order to meet the identified level of need.
• Simplified guidance on Drug Rehabilitation Requirements is issued to help staff reconcile the tensions between offence seriousness, the offender management tier and treatment intensity.
• Consideration is given to the practical implications of managing community orders that contain a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement without a supervision requirement.
  Consideration is given to whether more newly released offenders might benefit from a drug testing condition in their licence.
• Training is rolled out to enable all areas to deliver the required number of accredited programmes for substance misusing offenders within national standards timescales.
• Data on Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPOs) are quality assured, and consideration is given to the introduction of targets for interventions and outcomes.