Question reference: S6W-21505
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 20 September 2023
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Current status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 27 September 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed a comprehensive approach to early intervention amongst young people who are at risk, though deprivation, inequality or other factors of developing problem alcohol and drug use, as included at action point 4 in the updated Rights, Respect and Recovery Action Plan 2019-2021, which was published in December 2020.
Answer
In 2021, the Scottish Government formed a working group to develop Action 4 from the Rights, Respect and Recovery Action Plan. The aim of the working group is to ensure that good quality early intervention support services are available across Scotland for young people with emerging problematic drug and alcohol use.
The first phase of this work involved the working group gathering data from a range of sources to understand the size of the problem of younger people using drugs and alcohol as well as risk factors.
In 2022, we commissioned We Are With You to engage with young people in order to learn from their experiences of drug and alcohol use. This engagement has helped the working group to understand young people’s preferences for seeking help and the perceived barriers they face and this insight will aid the development of support for young people at risk from drugs/alcohol harms.
In Spring 2023, the working group began engaging with young people, using a co-design approach, to gather their views of good support. These findings, along with existing international evidence of good practice will be used by the working group to develop standards of support for children and young people.
The working group will outline the minimum principles of support that is required to meet the needs of children and young people and provide early intervention support in a way they want.