6th
September 2007
No Excuses: Ministers Must Act on
Scotland’s Hidden Drug Abused Children Before it’s too Late
Ministers must step in now to save
Scotland’s hidden drug abused children before it’s too late, MSP for
Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has told the Scottish Parliament.
Speaking
during this morning’s Executive debate on drugs misuse, Mr McNeil said that
newly-released Executive documents revealed that any number of children in
Scotland may be living with the deadly squalor of parental drug addiction,
unidentified and unprotected.
“These
children are being failed by a system which doesn’t even see them as a
statistic,” he told the Chamber.
“Local
authorities have been given a clear duty by the Executive to ensure that
addicts’ children get the services they need before they are at risk of harm.
But, as has now been revealed, they are nothing like able to meet this
obligation.
“There
can be no excuses. Whatever
Minister it might be – Shona Robison, Fergus Ewing, Kenny MacAskill, Adam
Ingram, or whoever – needs to take some responsibility and step in now before
it’s too late.”
Mr
McNeil’s speech outlined the extent to which the system was failing these
vulnerable children:
“A
reminder, as if it was needed, of how low these kids come on the authorities’
priorities list is found in the recently published ‘Letters of Assurance’
which the Executive sought from local authorities.
“These
reveal that any number of children in Scotland may be living with the deadly
squalor of parental drug addiction, unidentified and unprotected.
“Among
the correspondence, is a submission in which Strathclyde Police Chief Constable,
Sir Willie Rae and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Chief Executive, Tom Divers,
concede that: ‘At this present time, we could not provide general assurance
that all children affected by substance misuse have been identified.’
“But
this is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed,
the Executive’s own summary acknowledges that, ‘the vast majority of [Child
Protection Committee] areas experience difficulties in consistently identifying
those children affected by parental drug misuse.’
“In
Inverclyde, for example, then Council leader, Allan Blair, acknowledged that
children were living in such circumstances and admitted that their safety could
not be guaranteed.
“In
North Lanarkshire a report signed off by council, health and police chiefs says:
‘We cannot provide a definitive guarantee that all children who … have
parents who are misusing substances have been identified.’
“Similarly
senior figures from South Lanarkshire assert that the reason, ‘it is never
possible to be entirely confident in relation to the identification of all
children … affected by parental drug use’, is that drug users are hidden
from services. Precisely where
these self-sufficient drug addicts who have never accessed housing benefit,
child benefit, council tax benefit, a GP, a social worker, the housing
department or any other public service are to be found is, alas, not divulged.
“I
could go on, but time is limited and you get the picture.”
Mr
McNeil had also set out how the current policy of “harm reduction” had
failed:
“The
current methadone programme is a key part of the ‘harm reduction’ approach
to drug abuse which was supposed to stop addicts dying, but which has seen drug
related deaths continue to rise – up 25% last year. It was supposed to get addicts off drugs by providing a legal
substitute, but 70% of those on methadone are still happily taking their illegal
hits anyway. It was supposed to cut
drug-related crime, but 80% of addicts on methadone are still committing crimes
and our prisons are full of inmates with drug addictions.
“By
making drug use comfortable, affordable and safe, current policies are
conspiring to keep addicts in a lifestyle to which, over generations in some
cases, they have become accustomed.
“Therefore,
no amount of ‘more rehab’, ‘more support’, ‘more of the same’ –
which members have been calling for this morning – is going to help.
The only answer is to reject the lack of ambition which saw stabilisation
as the only realistic policy goal.
“Instead,
we need to move to drug cessation schemes with clear timetables for getting
clean.”
Background
In March 2006, the Ministers for
Justice, Health & Community Care and Education & Young People wrote to
leaders of Health Boards, Chief Constables, Council Leaders and Chief Executives
of local authorities, raising two issues relating to child protection services.
First, they sought assurances
that Chief Officers had implemented the guidance issued for Child Protection
Committees (CPCs) by the Scottish Executive in January 2005, and that they were
confident that the new functions required of the Committees were being
effectively undertaken.
Second, Ministers sought
assurances about the specific position of children in Scotland affected by a
parent’s drug misuse and drug misuse generally. In May a further letter of guidance was issued by officials
clarifying what the responses should include.
Agencies were asked:
Where agencies were unable to
provide either of these assurances, they were asked:
These letters followed up on
an exercise undertaken in November 2003 whereby Ministers sought assurances from
CPCs that the services within their remit were working individually and jointly
to protect children in need of help and protection.
By 31st May 2006,
the Executive had received 27 collective responses from health boards, police
forces and local authorities responsible for services in local areas.
These
responses were published in full on 13th August 2007 in response to a
series of Parliamentary Questions tabled by Duncan McNeil MSP.
They are online here.
ENDS
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