If you are looking for information about drug treatment please visit the National Treatment Agency website.

The Review Group is about to enter the next stage of its work which will being together all of the work streams undertaken thus far into a coherent strategy. We are taking this opportunity to change the review group site as we will be seeking to make the primary use of the site for feedback about the final recommendations. We are also undertaking a site redesign and as a consequence we are closing the forums and posts. We would like to thanks everyone who has contributed to this to date and we look forward to hearing from you when we start the next stage of our work.

In March 2008 Lord Patel of Bradford was asked by Ministers to chair a review group tasked with looking at drug treatment in prisons - the Prison Drug Treamtent Strategy Review Group (PDTSRG). This site aims to make available the work of the Review Group as well as:

• News and updates from Lord Patel;
• Further information about the members of the Review Group; and
• A forum for feedback and comments on the work of the Review Group.

Background

In 2006 the Secretary of State for Health and the then Home Secretary agreed to a review of how existing resources for drug treatment in prisons could be used more effectively. Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) were commissioned to undertake the review and concluded their work in December 2007. The full report was published in June 2008.

The PWC review of prison drug treatment funding identified a lack of a clear inter-departmental strategy; fragmented organisational arrangements for funding, commissioning and performance managing and delivering services; the lack of a clear evidence base for some services currently offered; and process inefficiencies and gaps in services. The report went on to recommend a number of steps that should be taken to build upon and improve the delivery of drug services to offenders in prison, including the establishment a drug strategy group.

Lord Kamlesh Patel of Bradford was announced as the chair of the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group in a written ministerial statement in March 2008.
Since being invited to be the Chair of the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group, Lord Patel has visited a number of prisons to canvas the views of significant stakeholders and help inform the membership of the Review Group. The membership of the Review Group was chosen by Lord Patel based on the knowledge, expertise and experience that each individual can bring. The first meeting of the Review Group was in February 2009 meeting every 2 months there after. Documents and minutes from the meetings and membership for the Review Group are available under "Group".