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Anti-Drug Awareness

My hon. Friend makes a serious and sensible point, and speaks from his experience as a council leader in a big city. It does not help if role models of the wrong sort continue to make the bad headlines to which he referred. We are trying to change the minds of young people, particularly those from homes where parenting standards might not be of the highest level—incidentally, that is another aspect that the early intervention programme in Nottingham is trying to tackle—and provide them with the right foundations so that they can say no to drugs and drink abuse. However, we are not helped when those youngsters see people on television and in the newspapers providing different, poorer examples. In order to make the initiative work, however, we need to embed our Drug Aware programme in schools. In order to achieve Drug Aware status, our schools and their communities are required to meet set criteria consisting of five components: first, in schools, targeted early interventions are to be provided through four educational link workers and referrals to specialist services, including the identification and support of children affected by parental drug and alcohol abuse; the implementation of a specific drug education scheme of work; local assessment of young people through the Engage drugs project to identify substance use issues and targeted interventions; and Drug Aware, which will identify the external providers most effective at engaging with young people on substance abuse for schools to select from. Secondly, parents have a role, too. We intend to ensure that schools provide parent training sessions and workshops; that parents are fully involved in setting drug and alcohol policy through task groups; and that the appropriate literature is available to parents. Thirdly, the media need to be a part of this—and they will be—and we hope that they will celebrate schools that achieve the Drug Aware award. The Minister will know of the excellent work done by the Nottingham Evening Post in our own locality in publicising the Dare scheme, which is a very important local drug education scheme. We hope that the profile achieved by Dare can be continued through the Drug Aware award. Fourthly, within the community, each school must be actively involved in devising local drugs and alcohol campaigns, graduations for each year of drugs curriculum completed and out-of-school diversionary activities. Finally, on policy, we must involve young people, parents, schools, local retailers and the police, all of whom should, and will, be consulted by the CDP through policy-setting task groups both inside and outside the classroom. What can be learned from our experience? In pioneering Drug Aware education in an early intervention context, I hope that a number of lessons will be learned. Drug education must be part of a wider strategy. Drug problems are often the result of multiple disadvantages, including those experienced by individuals who are part of ““at risk”” families, especially where parents or siblings are drug abusers; truanting and offending; living in neighbourhoods where drugs are readily available; self-medicating to alleviate an unhappy home life; and physical or emotional abuse. At the core of any effective prevention or intervention strategy for problem drug use must be a strong commitment to tackle its causes and context, which is why our educational approach fits into the early intervention package that we are pioneering in the city of Nottingham. It will develop the social and emotional capabilities to tackle the underlying causes of the intergenerational cycle that manifests itself in so many symptoms, such as drug and drink abuse, teenage pregnancy and low educational attainment, that afflict constituencies such as mine.