Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

626. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the work of the Drugs Advisory Group. [9805/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is informed that the Drugs Advisory Group was replaced by the National Coordinating Committee on Drug and Alcohol Task Forces which was established in January 2014, in line with the Review of Drugs Task Forces (2012). The National Coordinating Committee has the following terms of reference:

- to drive implementation of the National Drugs Strategy (NDS) at local and regional level;

- to oversee, monitor and support the work of the Drug and Alcohol Task Forces to ensure that policy on drugs is informed by their work and that their work is informed by the NDS;

- to promote effective coordination between statutory bodies and the community & voluntary sectors in delivering on the objectives of the Strategy at local and regional level;

- to monitor implementation of NDS actions specific to Drug and Alcohol Task Forces; and

- to make recommendations to the Minister in relation to the implementation of the NDS and effective coordination of service delivery at local and regional level.

The committee is chaired by a senior official in the Department of Health and includes representatives from the networks representing the Local Drugs and Alcohol Task Forces and the Regional Drugs and Alcohol Task Forces, as well as the key Departments and agencies involved in the implementation of the Strategy and the Community and Voluntary Sectors.

The committee, which meets up to six times a year, has developed a work programme to assist it in meeting its terms of reference. Among its priorities in 2016 is the development of a common approach across all Task Forces to addressing drug litter issues. The Department of Health has commissioned external consultants to assist the committee in measuring the effectiveness of the Drugs and Alcohol Task Forces, having regard to best practice internationally. It is also intended that the performance management framework under development by the consultant will provide a mechanism to target funding allocations on the basis of objective criteria, having regard to the drugs situation in the Task Forces catchment areas and other demographic factors. The study is due to be completed by September 2016 and will inform Task Force policy considerations going forward.