Draft Milton Keynes Drug and Alcohol Strategy. Consultation Paper. What is a strategy?

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1 Draft Milton Keynes Drug and Alcohol Strategy Consultation Paper What is a strategy? A strategy helps organisations such as Milton Keynes Council to plan what it needs to achieve in a specific area of work. Milton Keynes Draft Drug and Alcohol Strategy outlines the proposed priorities for Milton Keynes Council and its partners to work towards. It has been developed together with a range of key stakeholders including service users, young people, drug and alcohol services, Thames Valley Police, Probation, social care and health services. From 31 January to 28 March 2014, Milton Keynes Council is running an eight week consultation on the Draft Drug and Alcohol Strategy to help us further develop the strategy by gathering your thoughts and ideas. Who is the strategy intended for? Drug and alcohol problems can affect people of all ages, from all walks of life. The strategy therefore sets out a shared vision for all communities across Milton Keynes. It aims to make clear which priorities focus on children and young people, which focus on older people and those that will affect everyone. Why have we developed a strategy? Drugs and alcohol present a wide range of social and health issues. Their misuse can have serious consequences for individuals, their family members and whole communities such as crime; domestic abuse; child abuse and neglect; family breakdown; physical and mental health problems and homelessness. Additionally, drug and alcohol misuse by young people can impact on their education, and long-term life chances. We believe that the best way to tackle such a wide range of issues is to bring together all of the key stakeholders to agree and develop a coordinated strategy. Following the strategy will be an implementation plan, with clear actions for each stakeholder to take forward and be accountable for. This will help us ensure that the priorities are achieved and that we keep track of our progress. What are we proposing? The recently formed Drug and Alcohol Strategy Group has developed a set of priorities that they will take forward to implementation. The three overarching priorities which have been identified to focus on throughout are: 1. Reducing demand: Together we will develop and deliver high quality primary and secondary prevention initiatives and targeted early interventions for children, young people and adults

2 2. Restricting Supply: Working in partnership with Thames Valley Police, Milton Keynes Probation Service, Safer MK, licensing authorities and other relevant agencies, we will reduce levels of drug and alcohol related crime and tackle the supply of drugs 3. Building recovery: We aspire to deliver high quality drug and alcohol treatment and support which will enable children, young people and adults to achieve meaningful and sustained recovery There are a number of action points detailed within each of the three priorities. We strongly recommend that you consider these before responding to the consultation The consultation The consultation period will end on Friday 28 March We encourage and welcome comments and feedback, which will be carefully considered. We are happy to be invited to visit interest groups to talk about our proposals and take feedback. For further information or for copies of the draft strategy you can contact us on or via joint.commissioningunit@miltonkeynes.gov.uk In addition, this document and the full strategy are on our website where there is a form for you to comment on the consultation There will be three open consultation events covering both the Drug and Alcohol and the Mental Health strategy there will be a short presentation at the start followed by an open session for people to ask questions and share their views. Thursday 6 March 4.30pm 6.30pm Acorn House, CMK (Acorn suite, room A) Thursday 13 March 4.30pm 6.30pm Bletchley Leisure Centre Tuesday 18 March 4.30pm 6.30pm Lovat Hall, Newport Pagnell (Tickford Room)

3 Consultation questions 1. Do you agree with the values and principles as set out in the strategy? 2. Are the priorities of the strategy clear and easy to understand? 3. Do you agree with the priorities we have identified for Milton Keynes? A. Reducing demand B. Restricting Supply

4 C. Building Recovery 4. Are there any other priorities you feel should be included? If yes, please tell us what you think 5. Do you have any other comments?

5 About You (optional) Which of these best describes you? (tick all that apply) Resident (MK) Service user (someone that has used these services) Professional (please specify).. Gender Male Female What is your age? Under yrs yrs yrs 75 yrs and above Which of these groups do you consider you belong? White (British) White (Irish) White (other) Black (Caribbean) Black (African) Black (other) Asian (Indian) Asian (Bangladeshi) Asian (Pakistani) Chinese Mixed heritage (please specify). If other please specify. Prefer not to stay Do you consider yourself to have a disability? Prefer not to say The Data Protection Act In order to provide services to you, we need to record your details which you have the right to see and check. Information may be shared with other organisations we work with to provide services to you. We will process and safeguard your details in accordance to the Data Protection Act. Information may also be used in connection with the prevention and detection of crime and fraud.