HomeHow We Work
What we are
The problems we face
How do we tackle these problems?
What are our aims?
Where our money comes from
Who do we answer to?
How do we know we have made a difference?
What we are
The DAAT is a partnership, hosted by Northamptonshire County Council. This is the Council which covers the whole of Northamptonshire, the area the DAAT covers. In turn this contains the 7 local councils that manage a town or town and rural area (Corby, Daventry, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, Northampton, South Northamptonshire and Wellingborough ) within Northamptonshire.
As a distinct partnership, rather than as part of the County Council, our policy and action is made not just by the County Council but is also informed by the views of partners in the Police, Probation, Health, District and Borough Councils and local people and community groups, as well as by central Government.
With our funding we commission or pay for services which help reduce drug and alcohol problems. This includes action to tackle:
• Drug and alcohol related crime and disorder
• Drug dealing
• The Health consequences of drug and alcohol use, including addiction
• How children and young people develop attitudes and then use of drugs and alcohol
• How drugs and alcohol affect communities
The problems we face
Northamptonshire is a county with a population of about 630,000, 90% of whom are white, but a substantial percentage of whom are new migrants from Eastern Europe.
Northamptonshire is not marked by high levels of deprivation compared to large urban areas, as it has none of these.
Northampton is large town of about 200,000 where drug problems are proportionately high. Some areas, such as Corby have above average levels of problematic drug use. There are about 3000 problem drug users or PDUs in the county, a significant number of whom are involved in drug related crime. Northampton is a DIP (Drug Intervention programme) ‘intensive’ area which means that offenders are tested on arrest and referred to drug services.
Northamptonshire is a High Focus Area for young people’s drug use, which means it gets extra support from the former Department for Education and Skills to help us tackle these problems
In relation to alcohol, Northamptonshire’s problems are above average. Two boroughs of the seven in the county – Corby and Northampton - have problems in the top 25% nationally – for crime, ill health, binge drinking and so on. For some problems both boroughs are in the top ten of all councils in England. This highlights that too many people in this county drink at such a high level it damages their health very much. As a county we need to reduce how much we drink, and what we do when we have been drinking. This is our major challenge.
How do we tackle these problems?
We do not provide services. We ‘commission’, or buy them from organisations experienced in providing services to address these problems.
Commissioning is the core of what we do and it involves some clear stages or processes:
• Finding out what the problem is
• Finding solutions and answers
• Paying for services which will provide those solutions
• Checking that these work
• Identifying whether the problem needs other actions as well, and whether these services need to carry on
What are our aims?
principles?• To develop good, sensible, effective plans to tackle the problems we face
• To try to gather enough money to buy enough services
• Not to waste the money we have
• To buy effective services from the best possible providers of services
• To make a noticeable difference through what we commission
• To base our commissioning on an evidence based approach – delivering what is proven to be most likely to work
Through the services we buy, our aims are to:
• Prevent harm from drugs and alcohol arising in the first place
• Reduce the level of harm that is caused to individuals
• Reduce the number of people with the most harmful problems
• Ensure that those who need help get it, and that it reduces harm to them and the community
• Advertise that help is available
• Reach everybody in the community – including minority groups
• Listen to people’s views – including people who use drugs and alcohol
• Help those affected by other people who use drugs and alcohol
• Reduce the impact on places as well as people
• Work closely with the voluntary sector
Where our money comes from
Most of our money comes as special grants from central government, given directly to the DAAT with instructions on what to spend the money on.
About £760,000 comes from the County Council budget. Some of that is made up of grants from central government that have to be spent on drugs and alcohol. These are contained within main central funding allocations the County receives from central Government. Local politicians and partnerships decide how to spend this central funding they get from central Government, according to their local priorities.
About £1.1m comes from the Local Primary Care Trust, the organisation which pays for local healthcare in GPs and hospitals. They decide how much to give to the DAAT for the work it does.
All spending on tackling drug dealing comes out of the overall fund the local police have. They don’t get any central grants specifically for that part of their work. Instead, they agree to do a certain amount of work to tackle drug dealing with a share of the money they have available.
Who do we answer to?
Locally -
Local chief officers of our partners
Local elected members (Councillors)
These check to make sure we are working effectively, spending the money wisely, and that it makes a difference.
A senior group of chief officers receives reports on what we do, and decides the overall policy and direction of the DAAT. The DAAT staff carries this through in its commissioning and policy work.
The DAAT’s work links closely to other, general activity being carried out for offenders, or for young people. The DAAT tries to ensure that these strategies address alcohol and drugs in their mainstream work.
Centrally -
Government Office for the East Midlands assesses our performance and makes sure we are spending the money well and achieving the targets set. They report to central Government on our performance.
How do we know we have made a difference?
The DAAT collects data which shows our work is making an impact in reducing dug and alcohol related harm, achieving the following:
• Reduction in Drug and alcohol related crime
• Reductions in perceptions of drugs and alcohol related problem by the public
• People in treatment get better
• People use drugs and alcohol less, and less harmfully
• The impact on specific places and environments reduces
• Reduction in negative health effects of alcohol and drugs
The following things all result directly from our work and the services we commission:
• Providing quick routes into treatment for offenders has reduced their offending by 68%.
• The number of new heroin users has reduced 43% over the last three years
• drug related deaths have fallen by 31% since 2004