Buckinghamshire Drugs and Alcohol Strategy 2023 to 2028

Preventing the use of illicit drugs or the harmful use of alcohol is key to achieving a generational shift in improving the health and wellbeing of our residents. We want to strengthen the aspects of our lives that protect us from substance misuse, and make it less likely that people make unhealthy choices.

We want to build resilience across our county with universal programmes acting as the foundation of our prevention approach. The introduction of statutory health education in schools in 2020 provides an opportunity to develop the knowledge, attitude and skills needed to make an informed choice not to use drugs and resist peer pressure. The recent launch of the Buckinghamshire Healthy Schools Award allows schools to demonstrate their achievements in supporting substance misuse awareness and prevention.

However, we also recognise that some communities may be at greater risk of drug-related harms. We will target additional prevention work to those groups where they are likely to be needed most. Making drugs and alcohol less accessible is also vital to reducing their use.

• 1 in 5 secondary Buckinghamshire pupils report being drunk in the past week
  
• 1 in 3 sixth form Buckinghamshire pupils report being offered drugs
  
• 1 in 4 Buckinghamshire adults drink at levels which may harm their health (more than 14 units per week), which is worse than the national average
  
• 1,482 Buckinghamshire adults are estimated to use opiates and crack cocaine

Provide all schools with age-appropriate and evidence-based resources on the risks and harms associated with drugs and alcohol and how to build confidence in making healthy choices

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Public Health

Target early help offers to schools in areas where the risk of substance misuse is highest in alignment with the Opportunity Bucks programme

Lead Agencies: Buckinghamshire Council – Integrated Commissioning and Young People’s Drugs and Alcohol Service Provider (Here4YOUth)

Develop a multi-agency communications strategy to deliver health messages and drive behaviour change

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Communications

Roll out training in Making Every Contact Count (MECC) and Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) to a wider workforce, including JobCentres,

so that frontline staff have more confidence to have healthy conversations about alcohol and substance misuse

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Public Health

Commission the Healthy Lifestyle Service to deliver an enhanced tier one service for people starting to drink at higher risk levels

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Integrated Commissioning

Develop a method to prioritise which alcohol licensing applications receive input from the public health team, in line with the

Statement of Licensing Policies

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Licensing Team and Public Health

Collate intelligence on the use of nitrous oxide to inform test purchasing, through collection and sharing data relating to discarded cannisters

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Trading Standards and Buckinghamshire Council – Community Safety

Increase the prevention of illegal sales of underage alcohol and psychoactive substances through more test purchasing and enforcement

Lead Agency: Buckinghamshire Council – Trading Standards