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Anti-Drug Awareness

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen). He spoke about the part that the statutory sector—schools and police—can play in increasing drug awareness. His contribution was characteristically calm, almost forensic at times, and he showed a lot of compassion and common sense, as is his usual manner. I congratulate him on bringing this important subject to the House so soon after its return from recess. I want to talk about partnership working, which he mentioned, and the valuable part that the voluntary sector can play in this issue. The Minister will not be surprised to hear that I also want to discuss funding of the voluntary sector. Thundersley Congregational church, in my constituency, is a large and fast-growing, fairly evangelical church that has an honourable history of doing outreach work on drug awareness, tobacco and alcohol, and bad behaviour on the streets. It uses a bus called the Bar-N-Bus. I went out with that bus 15 years ago, as it went around Southend and Canvey sea fronts, providing a safe haven for kids where we could talk to them, provide them with alternative diversionary activities, find out what their problems were and help them. The church has been doing excellent work locally for many years. Richard Keeler and Ian Miles of that church recently came to one of my advice surgeries and told me that they are running a scheme in which they visit local schools and teach kids about drugs. I do not want to go into the matter too deeply, but one of those guys has extremely close knowledge of drugs and the devastation that they can wreak on a young life. He is doing superb work, and the kids will really listen to him, because he has something to say. He has enormous energy and that special knowledge—they are guided by their Christian ideals. I should make it clear that I am not a member of Thundersley Congregational church. They understand, in a way that many parents and some MPs do not—indeed, I did not, until recently—the pressure that kids today are under regarding drugs. I shall come to that in a moment, and to kids' attitude to drugs. Those pressures are massive. Richard and Ian wanted £550 to buy a drug awareness kit, a drug demonstration box and some DVDs, so that they could use them in schools and make their activity there more effective. I wrote to the Minister and tabled early-day motion 1283, which is in the Library pack for today's debate. The EDM states that"““such charities receive little or no funding from Government sources; and calls on the Government to fund preventative drugs programmes such as that provided by Thundersley Congregational Church.””" I am sorry to say that no Members taking part in the debate signed the early-day motion, but that is probably because it was localised in respect of Thundersley Congregational church. I got nowhere with obtaining the cash, so I got off my butt and held for the church yet another charity event—the third in two years—to raise money to buy the kit. We had a curry night at the Tandoori Parlour, a superb Indian restaurant, on Hart road, and we raised £1,100 clear profit, so we were able to buy the kit and to do more as well. The kit is now in good use. The drug display box and DVDs were obtained from the south-east Essex drugs partnership, headed by Ray Hatter, a professional and helpful guy who could do with more money. If he had more money, he could do more work, prevent more human suffering and save on costs to society in the long run. I see that the Minister is making notes; Hatter is spelt H-A-T-T-E-R. Actually, we are lucky to have such a superb Minister with us this morning, and I congratulate him on his promotion, which is long overdue. He is one of the best, most caring and able-to-listen Ministers in the House, and on this sensitive area of drugs and preventive measures he has always done all that he can. As I speak, Richard and Ian are at the Deanes school, speaking to a year 9 group of 13-year-olds and taking a lesson on drugs. Yesterday, they were doing drug awareness work at a secondary school in my constituency, where they got a superb response from the youngsters. When a class of about 30 children was asked whether anyone had been offered drugs, taken drugs or been aware of anybody in their peer group who had taken drugs, about 50 per cent. put their hands up, and some gave examples. It is a massive problem in my locality, which is relatively crime-free and clean. A few kids go through problems growing up, but broadly speaking, in my constituency the young people are fantastic and decent. I warmly congratulate Thundersley Congregational church, and Richard and Ian in particular, on what they are doing. Clearly, Richard and Ian could not do their work without the support of the whole church, and the Minister knows where I am leading now: just a small sum to support voluntary organisations could be very effective. I am sure that the message will get back to the Home Office. We need more flexibility to provide small grants, because £500 here or £500 there—used properly, particularly where people have specific knowledge of the disaster that drugs can cause families and society—could be very effective. Finally, I shall make three brief points. First, the hon. Member for Bolton, South-East (Dr. Iddon) rightly raised the issue of smoking, particularly among teenage girls, which is not a problem that is going away. We must tackle it and address it more firmly if we can, particularly through parents, schools and education. Secondly, we need more residential drug rehabilitation places to allow people who are afflicted by drugs to change their lives. We will not do so without dramatically increasing the number of such places, and it would be a very cost-effective use of money. I see the Minister nodding. Thirdly, we need tougher action both to stop drugs getting into prisons and to deal with prisoners who are on drugs and end their addiction; otherwise, they will simply be in a revolving door. I know that the Minister agrees. I congratulate the Minister and the Government on what they have done in respect of drugs over the past few years, because they have been moving in the right direction. I am not being picky; I just wish that we had a little more flexibility to divert some of the funds to voluntary organisations.