ADCS: Cuts have led to poor safeguarding outcomes for children
14/01/2025 The combination of poor-quality housing and the cost-of-living crisis is contributing to ‘family distress and breakdown’, safeguarding report concludes. |
Council apologises after belongings of deceased tenant binned
26/11/2024 Brighton & Hove City Council has apologised after the belongings of a 29-year-old man found dead in temporary accommodation were binned by contractors. |
Chesterfield council welcomes record drugs bust
26/02/2024 Dozens of gang members have been jailed for more than 120 years after a drugs bust in Chesterfield succeeded in disrupting nine county lines gangs. |
Drug-related deaths up by 80%
09/02/2024 Financial uncertainty is undermining local efforts to battle drug addiction, council chiefs warn as report finds drug-related deaths are up 80% over a decade. |
UK’s first regular drug checking service launched in Bristol
29/01/2024 The first regular drug checking service in the UK has been launched this month in central Bristol. |
Call for greater drug use surveillance
18/12/2023 Council chiefs have called for greater regulation and surveillance of the use of illegal drugs in response to what they have called ‘worrying new trends’. |
'Critical' to maintain progress, Dundee told
30/11/2023 A finance watchdog has said Dundee City Council is ‘well-run’ but ‘long-standing difficulties remain’ to be tackled in its improvement journey. |
Glasgow to pilot drug consumption facility
15/09/2023 A safe drug consumption facility is set to be trialled in Glasgow after the lord advocate said she did not believe it would be in the public interest to prosecute users of drug consumption rooms for simple possession offences. |
Alarming figures reveal 300% increase in ‘cuckooing’
19/05/2023 Figures collected from local authorities across London have revealed a 300% increase in the number of ‘cuckooing’ cases across the capital. |
Former drug addicts to help mentor jobseekers
19/05/2023 Former drug addicts and alcoholics are to be appointed as mentors in Job Centres to help people cope with their addictions. |
Projects to tackle drug use given £5m boost
09/03/2023 New projects aimed at reducing drug use have been given a cash boost in the first allocation of a £5m Government grant. |
Inhaling nitrous oxide ‘no laughing matter’, council chiefs warn
07/03/2023 Council leaders have called for a clamp down on the use of nitrous oxide – or laughing gas – for recreational purposes as a study reveals its harmful impact. |
Over £420m drug treatment funding announced
16/02/2023 Local government leaders have welcomed the announcement of an extra £421m for councils in England to improve drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery. |
Councils receive £53m for drug and alcohol treatment
03/02/2023 The Government has announced grants totalling up to £53m for councils to provide housing support to people in drug and alcohol treatment. |
Council chiefs call for ‘clarity’ on addiction services funding
19/01/2023 Council leaders have called for ‘urgent clarity’ on how addiction services will be funded after the figures reveal a rise in number of people seeking help. |
Mayor Khan announces £7m to tackle drug violence
16/01/2023 More than £7m will go towards helping the Met tackle drug-related violence, the Mayor of London has announced. |
Ministers urged to break the link between drugs and deprivation
14/11/2022 Around 1,600 drug-related deaths could be prevented in the North and Scotland if the Government ensures drugs policy reform is included in levelling up plans, a think tank has argued today. |
Council apologises after teenage suicide
29/09/2022 West Sussex County Council has apologised for failing to provide the right level of support to a teenage boy who has died after a suicide attempt. |
Sharp increase in drug deaths ‘very concerning’, council chiefs say
03/08/2022 The over 6% increase in the number of drug related deaths in England and Wales is ‘very concerning’, local authority leaders say. |
Staff shortages undermining drug treatment, study reveals
21/06/2022 A loss of skilled professionals and the fragmentation of services has proven a major barrier to tackling drug addiction, new research has found. |
MPs urge licensing authorities to use powers to tackle spiking
26/04/2022 Local authorities have been urged to use their licensing powers to ensure venues take action to prevent spiking incidents and keep customers safe by MPs. |
Council chiefs welcome £300m to tackle drug addiction
14/04/2022 Council leaders have welcomed a Government announcement of additional funding for local areas to tackle drug dependency as an ‘important step forward’. |
Project ADDER helps over 13,000 people receive drug treatment
26/01/2022 Over 600 crime groups have been disrupted and 13,000 people supported in drug treatment interventions thanks to a whole-systems approach to tackling drugs. |
London boroughs consider cannabis decriminalisation
05/01/2022 Three London boroughs could be part of a pilot scheme aimed at diverting young people caught with a small amount of cannabis away from the justice system. |
Largest ever funding boost to tackle drug misuse
07/12/2021 All local authorities in England are set to receive new funding to tackle drug and alcohol misuse over the next three years. |
New partnership will roll out anti-spiking tests across Greater Manchester
10/11/2021 Anti-spiking tests will be rolled out across major venues in Greater Manchester as part of a new partnership to tackle drink spiking. |
Drug users urged to be careful after high number of overdoses
18/08/2021 Drug users have been urged to be extra careful following a high number of likely heroin overdoses. |
Drug-related deaths in England and Wales reach record high
04/08/2021 The number of drug-related deaths in England and Wales reached a record high in 2020, official figures have revealed. |
Eight more regions to become Project ADDER Accelerator sites
28/07/2021 Eight more local authorities will become Project ADDER Accelerator sites to help tackle drug misuse and crack-down on drug-related crime. |
15 local areas to deliver Changing Futures programme
19/07/2021 The most vulnerable people across England will receive co-ordinated support to help rebuild their lives, the Government has announced. |
Girls increasingly becoming victims of county lines drug gangs, councils warn
09/07/2021 County lines drug gangs are increasingly targeting girls and young women, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned. |
Review calls for significant investment in drug treatment
08/07/2021 Local authorities should be given an extra £550m over the next five years to deliver drug treatment in their local communities, an independent review has said today. |
Councils welcome £148m funding boost to cut misuse of drugs
20/01/2021 Five areas across England will pilot a new approach to tackling drug misuse under plans announced today by the Government. |
Rough sleepers to get extra support for drug and alcohol dependency
14/12/2020 Extra funding will be given to 43 areas across England to help rough sleepers recover from drug and alcohol misuse. |
Council chiefs call for investment to cope with lockdown addictions
15/09/2020 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to increase investment in public health services to help them tackle drug and alcohol addiction. |
Service reform needed to tackle persistent use of Spice within homeless population
06/03/2020 Legislation has failed to reduce the use of Spice by homeless people, a new study has concluded. |
Thousands miss out on drug services due to cuts, charity finds
29/01/2020 At least 12,000 people experiencing homelessness missed out on vital drug and alcohol services last year, new research has revealed. |
Overdose victims in Glasgow saved 17 times in four months
04/12/2019 Glasgow Council has released figures showing that overdose victims were revived 17 times in four months at its night shelter. |
MPs call for ‘decriminalising’ drug possession
23/10/2019 MPs have called for a ‘radical change’ to drugs policy as a report warns the rate of drug-related deaths has risen to ‘the scale of a public health emergency’. |
Council adopts fingerprint-based drug testing
15/10/2019 Peterborough City Council has brought in fingerprint-based drug testing as part of its family safeguarding social care initiative. |
Priti Patel unveils £20m funding to tackle county lines
02/10/2019 The Government has announced a package of new measures to tackle county lines drugs gangs. |
Over 4,000 young people ‘exploited’ by County Lines gangs
20/09/2019 Figures released by the Mayor of London’s office have revealed that there are more than 4,000 young people involved in County Lines operating out of London. |
Drug poisoning deaths up 16% in face of public health cuts
16/08/2019 Council chiefs warn that cuts to public health grants are a ‘false economy’ which make it more difficult to provide support and treatment to drug users. |
Councils report 'worrying rise' in body image drugs
29/07/2019 Council leaders have reported a ‘worrying’ increase in the number of people using illegal and dangerous body enhancing drugs. |
Primary school children targeted for ‘county lines’ drug trafficking
05/07/2019 The response from statutory agencies to ‘county lines’ drug dealing is ‘too often haphazard’, a charity warns as new report reveals children as young as seven are being exploited by criminal gangs. |
Nearly 600 people arrested to tackle county lines drug gangs
21/05/2019 Nearly 600 people have been arrested in a single week for their suspected involvement in drug dealing across county lines. |
London Councils welcome drug dealers being jailed in ‘landmark’ slavery case
15/05/2019 Three ‘county lines’ drug dealers have been sent to prison in a landmark case using the Modern Slavery Act. |
Council proposes random drug testing of staff
10/04/2019 West Lothian Council is considering introducing random drug testing for staff in posts defined as ‘safety critical’. |
Health experts have revealed a big rise in the use of crack cocaine
26/03/2019 Public Health England says the number of adults starting treatment for crack addiction in the last three years has gone up by 19%. |
Pilot project helps a third of youths quit ‘county lines’
14/02/2019 Specialist support helped nearly a third of young people in a pilot project to quit 'county lines' involvement with drugs, according to a review. |
Treatment cut despite ‘soaring’ alcohol-related A&E admissions
11/02/2019 Councils are reducing spending on alcohol and drug treatment services despite ‘soaring’ numbers of hospital admissions due to alcohol misuse, FOI data reveals. |
Front-line workers ‘must get better’ at tackling child exploitation by drug gangs
30/01/2019 Front-line professionals ‘must get better’ at spotting signs that children are being exploited, a children’s charity has said in response to an annual assessment of county lines drug networks. |
Vulnerable offenders increasingly referred to health services rather than prison
10/08/2018 Offenders with mental health, alcohol and drug abuse problems are increasingly being referred to health services as part of community sentences. |
Council plans ‘random’ drug tests for employees
25/07/2018 Walsall Council employees may soon be subject to ‘random’ drug testing after drugs paraphernalia was discovered. |
Two million children at ‘serious risk’, report reveals
04/07/2018 Over two million children are growing up in families where there are ‘serious risks’, a major new study has revealed. |
Council to introduce alcohol and drug tests for staff
10/05/2018 A council in Northern Ireland could soon be introducing a new scheme to test employees for alcohol and drug use. |
Increase in drug-related deaths linked to health cuts
27/04/2018 Whitehall should reverse its cuts to local authority public health grants in order to tackle the increase in drug-related deaths, doctors say. |
Drug addiction costs West Midlands £1.4bn a year
13/02/2018 The West Midlands PCC has called for a joined up approach to tackling drug addiction after a report found the cost of substance misuse to the area was £1.4bn a year. |
Private rehab clinics risk killing patients, regulator warns
30/11/2017 A report saying privately-run rehab clinics risk killing patients by handing out too many drugs is a 'wake-up call', a local government leader has warned. |
Life Chances Fund awards first round of investment
18/10/2017 The first round of funding to projects that tackle drug dependency and support children in care has been awarded to ten projects. |
Vulnerable women ‘trapped’ due to patchy service
14/09/2017 Patchy services across the country are trapping vulnerable women in ‘cycle of disadvantage’ a new report has warned. |
Experts call for public health cuts to be reversed in wake of drug deaths
03/08/2017 Experts have urged the government reverse pubic health budget cuts as official figures show the number of deaths related to drug poisoning are continuing to rise. |
Home secretary launches new anti-drug strategy
14/07/2017 The Government has launched a new strategy to reduce illicit drug use and increase the rate of individuals recovering from addiction. |
Testing facilities in city centres could reduce drug-related deaths, health experts say
09/06/2017 Festivals and city centres should provide testing facilities where drug users can test ‘substances of concern’ to establish content and strength, say experts. |
Heroin-related deaths double after councils take on addiction services
25/05/2017 Deaths involving heroin have more than doubled since addiction services were transferred from NHS control to local authorities in 2012, expert writes. |
Expansion of drug and alcohol prevention in schools
13/03/2017 Extra funding has been announced to pay for a new drug and alcohol prevention programme in schools and community settings. |
Councils should work with venues to tackle drug abuse, guidelines say
22/02/2017 Local authorities should work with nightclubs, gyms and festivals to prevent the misuse of drugs, new national guidelines recommend. |
Charity sees sharp rise in drugs and alcohol being used near children
13/02/2017 The NSPCC has reported more than 20,000 concerns over substance abuse near children to the police and children’s services over the past three years. |
Council looks into random drug and alcohol testing
26/07/2016 Council considers implementing a random drug and alcohol testing policy for employees. |
Health bodies call for illegal drugs to be decriminalised
16/06/2016 Two public health bodies are calling for the possession and use of all illegal drugs to be decriminalised, warning the 'war on drugs' has failed. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.