Part one of a review of the high - and low - lights of the past year. Including the Pooled Treatment Budget increase that wasn't, capital investment in tier 4, the Harm Reduction Action Plan and the Drug Strategy Consultation plus much much more ribald and unbuttoned fun from the wacky world of drug policy .... part two next week.

(Thanks to The Daily Dose and Drink and Drugs News for their impeccably kept online archives - without them I would have had to make it all up ... then again, you couldn't really could you?)

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Tags: Drug Policy Review 2007

A new agreement that devolves power away from Whitehall down to Local Partnerships is going to make a huge difference to the way government works. But why has the Drug Strategy been left out of this important piece of work and what have the people in Government who are meant to promote joined up solutions to drug problems been doing about it? Read More...

Tags: Local Government Indicators

Some pretty creative work around drug - and particularly - alcohol use has been funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) up and down the country over the past few years. Projects looking at regeneration, workskills - and in some of the most creative partnerships - essentially the elements of treatment we know should be in place but which simply weren't fundable through the pooled treatment budget - like workplace mentoring and advocacy schemes.

But in 2008, NRF ends. I know a lot of projects I've been talking to are worried that their funding won't be replaced by mainstream monies or by drug specific spend. There's a feeling too that no one is really putting pressure on local partnerships engaged in regeneration to think about drugs after NRF.

Well the Government has announced its replacement for NRF. Its called The Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) and its going to be available to local partnerships (that is Local Strategic Partnerships*) in the most deprived areas to support initiatives that increase enterprise and get more people back into work. There's £1.5 billion going to 86 areas across England. The areas getting WNF were announced on the 6th December. Read More...

Tags: employment

Yes, the APACs consultations have finally been published Read More...

Tags: APACS