Cambridgeshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team Community Plan 2003/4

This community plan forms part of Cambridgeshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team's 2003 annual return to central government, and sets out how the partnership of public sector bodies in Cambridgeshire is working to improve the safety of our communities from drug related harm.

This plan should be read in conjunction with other plans, in order to understand the breadth of work commissioned in Cambridgeshire. For example, in our Treatment Plan we identify the importance of working with offenders to reduce their criminal behaviour by tackling their drug dependency. In our Young People Plan, we describe universal drug education and targeted work with those most vulnerable.

In this Community Plan, we describe the work that will take place (much of it continuing programmes already underway) in our communities to prevent drug misuse, disrupt drug markets, support local communities and target groups or communities of particular concern.

Summary of key actions in 2003/4

• Continue established community programmes of education, prevention and crime reduction;
• Continue support for local communities, especially those suffering greatest deprivation, through building community capacity;
• Roll out the Community Drug Policy approach across all Cambridgeshire by 2006;
• Further develop effective services for homeless drug misusers in Cambridge;
• Support Cambridgeshire-wide research of housing needs of drug misusers;
• Oversee the drugs-in-the-workplace training initiative in partnership with EEF;
• Develop further support for the Traveller community;
• Improve communications between DAAT and Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships and through their member agencies.

Regeneration/ Neighbourhood renewal
The most deprived areas within the DAAT area have access to a range of services, including:

• Young people's provision
• Treatment services
• Community interventions
• Criminal justice interventions
• Supply interventions
• Workplace strategies (not yet universally available, but within the Progress 2 Work programme)

Housing and Homelessness
Homelessness is a concern throughout Cambridgeshire. However, the problem is particularly acute in Cambridge City. The City has 'Rough Sleeper' status under the national initiative, and the City Council, in conjunction with a wide range of partner organisations - including the DAAT - has been leading work to reduce the numbers of rough sleepers, improve the accommodation available to homeless people and develop a range of support services which can address some of the problems which accompany homelessness. In the latter regard, the DAAT Joint Commissioning Group has funded in each of the last two years additional capacity within the Cambridge Drug & Alcohol Service to work with homeless people and those living in hostels. Further resources from the JCG have secured floating support systems, and in the previous year a research project was conducted and reported in March 2003.

The research was intended to draw together the lessons learned from the treatment and homeless sectors and identify further improvements to the system. The research was jointly commissioned by the DAAT Joint Commissioning Manager and the City Council Homelessness Team. It reported into the Drug & Alcohol Task Group of the Cambridge Health & Homelessness Group. This body advises City Council and Primary Care Trust directly, and also the DAAT and other homelessness strategic groups.

As part of its homelessness strategy, Cambridge organises regular street counts. The count in December 2002 revealed 12 rough sleepers. Nine of the twelve were already known to services, of whom one had an assessed drug problem (compared to four with alcohol related problems). None of those found and identified were under 25 or over 60.

The count illustrates the importance of the hostel sector in this field, as most drug-misusing people with accommoDAATion issues are not in fact sleeping on the streets. Work is in hand through the mechanisms described above to improve the support given to hostel-living drug misusers, and among plans under discussion are reconfiguration of accommoDAATion to include dedicated places for people in treatment and those wishing to remain drug free. These plans will be developed by the end 2003.

Elsewhere in Cambridgeshire, the Supported Housing Information Group (a research project hosted by the County Council) proposes research on accommodation needs and issues - including hidden homelessness - during 2003. The detail of this project is still to be agreed. It is hoped that this work can include major housing providers and address some of the issues in the guidance 'Tackling Drug Use in Rented Housing'.

In Fenland, during the Enhanced Treatment Outcomes pilot project, good links were made between ETO and the Fenland District Council Housing Department. We anticipate links with all housing providers through Models of Care. Representatives of housing authorities attended a seminar on Models of Care in February 2003.

Clubs
Cambridge City Council hosted an event for clubs and late night licensees on October 30th 2002, which gave the opportunity to advise on a number of issues of good practice, and to strengthen the relationships between Licensing Authority, DAAT, Licensee and Police. Subsequently, the DAAT has contributed to the revised drug policy of the City's leading club.

Training for doorstaff is underway in three Cambridgeshire districts, part funded through Communities Against Drugs monies.

Licensing Officers attend DARG meetings.

Other themes

Workplace
The DAATs of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have developed a partnership with EEF, the country's leading employer support organisation, to deliver drugs in the workplace programmes. Drawing upon the resources developed by Hertfordshire DAAT and Kent Council on Addiction, EEF is able to offer employers in our area awareness and bespoke training events, acting as a coordinating agent for local specialist agencies and trainers. There is a Service Level Agreement between EEF and DAAT, which covers accountabilities, quality assurance and performance monitoring. This will be a reactive programme in the main, following the model set out by KCA with the Home Office Drug Strategy Directorate, but one of the benefits of the partnership with EEF enables a series of pro-active, 'taster' events for EEF member companies in May and June 2003.

Progress2 Work
Cambridgeshire established a similar programme in conjunction with Richmond Fellowship in 1998, funded through the Drug & Alcohol Specific Grant. This programme was successful in matching some drug treatment clients with training opportunities and employment. As a result, DAAT has worked closely with Job Centre Plus on the development and roll-out of P2W. Cambridgeshire's structures have already been 'launched' and commenced on 14th February 2002. There are plans to extend the service provision to those for whom alcohol is the primary drug of choice.

However, P2W does not hold all the answers to employment pathways for drug misusers. The Cambridge Drug & Alcohol Service, in partnership with Cambridge Employment Foundation Scheme established during 2002 a treatment programme based in the workplace. Early experience suggests that this can be an effective model and plans to extend this approach are being discussed.

There are plans for a similar scheme to commence, which will focus on assisting alcohol misusers. Funding for this has not been confirmed, so there is no proposed date of commencement as of yet.

Street Scenes
Street scenes have not per se been identified as a key priority in Cambridgeshire. In Cambridge City itself, the street scene is closely allied to the homelessness issue described in more detail above, and a sub group of the Homelessness Partnership tackles street life issues. The DAAT's primary involvement is to try and ensure effective support and treatment for individuals, while through the Homelessness Strategy and the Community Safety Partnership, it supports work on anti social behaviour and aggressive begging.

The DAAT reviews drug markets and street issues with Police. At present it is not felt that Cambridgeshire should prioritise sex workers as there is not the open market experienced in some parts of the UK. The emergence of crack cocaine, particularly in Cambridge, means that this situation is under continuous review. The commitment of the welfare and treatment services to co-operate - as demonstrated in the highly effective Operation Ortolan - means that should it become necessary to establish targeted work to tackle sex workers, this would be achieved.

Road Safety
The DAAT has not prioritised road safety within its plans. Results of programmes in other parts of the UK will be studied as they are published and the DAAT will make decisions based on evidence presented to it.

Community Capacity
Community Capacity is a key component to the DAAT and Community Safety Partnerships' approach to tackling drug misuse. The DAAT has encouraged the use of CAD money in each of the CSPs for this purpose, and posts have been created in each to provide local community groups with support where they identify local drug issues. Most notably, the three CSPs of Southern Cambridgeshire have combined resources to employ a full time Communities Against Drugs worker. The postholder works with local community groups to assess drug-related concerns and develop plans to address them, drawing upon existing services and identifying additional funding sources as appropriate. Once this funding reaches an end, the Worker is to continue being funded by the DAAT, as their work has proven to be very effective.

Each of the CSPs has also established a 'Community Chest' (often combining CAD and other funding streams) to which bids for particular programmes of work are invited, assessed against agreed criteria and funded.

The Community Drug Policy approach, devised in the first place to support a community of schools, has been well received and plans are now in action to extend this approach into all communities of Cambridgeshire by 2006. The implementation timetable includes the early targeting of key areas such as the SRB target area of Oxmoor in Huntingdon.

Diversity
The largest minority ethnic grouping in Cambridgeshire is the Traveller community, and DAAT is committed to responding to their needs as a priority. While at one level awaiting the results of the Eastern Region DPAS-led initiative with this community, it has also been possible to begin work on an action research programme within Cambridgeshire, in which the DAAT funds a Traveller community worker to advise on the community's needs for information, education, prevention and treatment. Little is currently known about this community, and this project will, sensitively, help to advise the DAAT and other agencies on the most appropriate services and models of delivery. The work undertaken so far has been very useful and an educational cassette, concerned with drugs awareness has been produced and will be distributed soon.