Agenda item

The Chair invited Ellie Greenwood, Senior Adviser to introduce the report, which followed the Board indicating that it would like to undertake a piece of work looking at drug use and community safety issues.

Members comments:

·       Members raised a concern that due to the lack of local elected councillors that sit on Combatting Drugs Partnerships (CDPs) Board meetings, that sharing of information is not filtering down to the democratic level. There was a consensus that the LGA should lobby for consistency in at least one elected member sitting on each CDP.

·       There is a need for further training on the CDPs as there is a large gap in understanding among councils/councillors, for instance there is potential to include this into Leadership Essentials courses.

·       A member raised their experience of the CDP being focused on drug users, public health and treatment, and instead urged SSCB to encourage CDPs to address more issues in relation to community safety, such as cuckooing and drug dealing.

·       There was a request for CDPs to be regulated, or greater transparency encouraged.

·       A member raised that the Home Office had announced a U-turn on drug testing at festivals which increased the time taken to become licensed for onsite drug testing.

·       Concern was raised that police time is being wasted by issuing cannabis fixed penalties, when organised crime is the more pressing issue.

·       The length of delays and lack of fulfilment of drug treatment programmes is an issue.

·       There was a request for research to be undertaken to understand what councils think should happen in their communities to tackle drug use which leads to crime.

The Chair summarised and agreed the Board’s perspective should be reducing crime on the streets, (targeting drug dealers rather than drug users for example) as opposed to public health focused but commented that there will be crossover between the two, as the use of drugs is intrinsically linked to prostitution and youth violence.

Decision

The Board indicated how they would like to focus future work on this issue agreeing to the proposals laid out in paragraph 19.

Actions

·       Officers to explore the issue raised regarding onsite drug testing at festivals, including liaising with Cllr Craig regarding the concerns Bristol is highlighting.

·       Officers to consider how to close the gap in understanding of CDPs.

·       Officers to explore possibility to undertake research to understand what communities would want to see to help tackle drug use and subsequent crime.