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Drugs and Alcohol Action Team
What is Medway DAAT?
The Medway Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) is the
partnership responsible for the delivery of the government's
10-year
strategy (pdf 787KB) and a three-year action
plan (pdf 279KB). To use these files, you will need an Adobe
Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this on your computer, please
use our advice page to download it.
DAAT brings together representatives of all the local agencies
involved in tackling the misuse of drugs, including the health
authority, the council, police, probation, social services,
education and youth services and the voluntary sector.
A full list of the agencies delivering drug and alcohol services in Medway is available
on this site together with a list of national helpline contact details and details of
pharmacy needle exchanges.
There are four strands of work within the National Drug
Strategy:
- protecting communities through tackling drug supply,
drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour;
- preventing harm to children, young people and families affected
by drug misuse;
- delivering new approaches to drug treatment and social
re-integration;
- public information campaigns, communications and community
engagement.
Key policies in the strategy
- Embed action to tackle drugs within the neighbourhood policing
approach, to gather community intelligence and to increase
community confidence.
- Target the drug-misusing offenders causing the highest level of
crime by improving prison treatment programmes and increasing the
use of community sentences with a drug rehabilitation
requirement.
- Extend powers to seize the cash and assets of drug dealers to
demonstrate to communities that dealing does not pay.
- Focus on the families where parents misuse drugs, intervening
early to prevent harm to children, prioritising parents' access to
treatment where children are at risk, providing intensive parenting
guidance and supporting family members, such as grandparents, who
take on caring responsibilities.
- Develop a package of support to help people in drug treatment
to complete treatment to re-establish their lives, including
ensuring local arrangements are in place to refer people from
Jobcentres to sources of housing advice and advocacy and
appropriate treatment.
- Use opportunities presented by the benefits system to support
people in re-integrating with society and gaining employment, with
a commitment to examine further how claimants can be offered
incentives to engage with treatment and other services.
- Pilot new approaches that allow a more flexible and effective
use of resources, including individual budgets to meet treatment
and wider support needs.
What does the DAAT do?
Medway DAAT ensures that the work of local agencies is
brought together effectively and that cross-agency projects are
co-ordinated successfully. It takes strategic decisions on
expenditure and service delivery within the four strands of the
National Drugs Strategy.
This work involves:
- commissioning services, including supporting structures;
- monitoring and reporting on performance;
- communicating plans, activities and performance to
stakeholders.
Structure and accountability
The team consists of a DAAT Chair and a DAAT Manager:
- The DAAT Chair is the most senior official within the DAAT,
working on a part-time basis with a senior position within one of
the constituent agencies (including health authorities, the
council's Children and Adult Services Directorate, housing
providers, police, prisons and probation);
- The DAAT Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management
of the DAAT, working alongside community safety managers in the
Medway Community Safety Partnership (CSP)
with a small group of staff.
DAATs are formally accountable to the Home Secretary. They are
supported by Home Office teams in the nine Regional Government
Offices and centrally by the Drugs Strategy Directorate.
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