Welcome to the official website for the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group (PDTSRG). This is a group that I have been asked by Ministers to Chair in order to review the current drug treatment system in prisons and on release.

On the 26th of February 2009, I chaired the Review Group’s first meeting and I am very pleased to say that it was a well attended and lively meeting. The full list of members can be seen at the members page. The Members were chosen by Ministers on my advice with the aim of including a wide range of experience and expertise and I am sure people will agree with me that this is a very high quality and independently minded group of people. We have an enormous challenge ahead of us, but also an opportunity to make a real difference to people with drug problems in prison and in the community on release.

You will also see from the minutes of our meetings published here on the web site, that a number of government officials were also present at each meeting. I am pleased that they were able to attend because to address the challenge ahead of us it is vital that all of the key Government Departments are in attendance and able to comment and advise during the meetings. There is a strong interest and willingness in Government to participate in this work programme and to work alongside the PDTSRG to consider how things can be done differently.

A great deal of work will need to be done at our meetings and this will largely be done by the officials that are represented. One of our biggest challenges is to overcome the barriers that have grown up between different parts of the prison and drug treatment systems resulting in services and key agencies operating in isolation. This kind of ‘silo’ working has prevented effective collaboration across national, regional and local boundaries which is essential to making the kind of changes and improvements we need to see.

The PDTSRG will be operating for two years from April 2009 and will be making reports with recommendations as it goes along. This is important to me because I do not want to wait two years before implementing any changes. It is my intention that any agreed actions or recommendations would begin to be implemented at the point they are agreed. Of course there will be a full report of the Review Group’s progress and successes at the end of the two years.

One of the reasons I have set up this web site is that I believe it is very important that the work of the PDTSRG is as transparent and as inclusive as possible. I want to encourage as many people as possible to use the web site and to view, comment and engage with our work wherever possible. All minutes and documents that are discussed at meetings will be posted on the site along with comments and views from myself and members of the Review Group. There are also forums which are there for anyone to contribute to the debates and discussions that arise. I hope also that anyone viewing the site feels free to contact the Review Group project team who will answer any questions and make sure that comments are passed on to myself and made known to all of the Review Group members and officials.

Over the summer in 2009 I will be making a number of consultation visits to prisons and I am also very keen to meet and talk with local service user forums wherever I can. It is very important that our work is directly informed by service users and I would especially welcome any comments and feedback that people who have been through the system wish to make.

I hope you find the site useful and that you participate in the forums and come back to see how we are progressing. I look forwarding to receiving your views and input over the next two years thank you for taking the time to visit the site.

Lord Kamlesh Patel