Scottish Government

APPENDIX 1 DESCRIPTION OF THE PILOT SCHEMES

Introduction

In this appendix we provide a brief overview of each of the six areas, highlighting key features, issues and developments and summarise points of convergence and divergence across the pilot programme as a whole.

Edinburgh and Midlothian

The Edinburgh & Midlothian Arrest Referral Scheme ( EMARS) is operated by the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders ( SACRO) and grew out of an earlier Arrest Referral project funded by the City of Edinburgh Council and Lothian & Border Police.

The original scheme operated from January 2003 to the end of January 2004 in St Leonard's police cells, Edinburgh, with just the one worker. The advisory group for the project then put forward a bid to the Scottish Executive to expand the scheme to include Midlothian, introducing the Dalkeith police office cells and the geographical area of Midlothian Council.

EMARS is based on a proactive model of Arrest Referral and targets arrestees aged 16 and over with drug problems. For clients with alcohol problems the ARWs pass on information and advice about services but do not follow up. Initially, the scheme operated at the police cells at Dalkeith and St Leonard's police office but was subsequently expanded to include Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Following the launch of the pilot in February 2004, one worker at a time, on a rotational basis, provided a service to St Leonard's and Dalkeith between 7.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m., Monday to Friday. The scheme at St Leonard's was fully police-mediated. At Dalkeith the scheme had an opportunity to trial direct ARW access to arrestees, via the cell door hatch whilst an officer stood nearby.

In autumn 2004, Reliance took over the contract to transport prisoners from police offices to court. Prisoners were to be delivered by 9.30 a.m. and this left only a brief window for ARWs to access arrestees in the mornings. As a result, referral numbers were dropping and the scheme was, therefore, moved to Edinburgh Sheriff Court where easier direct access by ARWs was possible.

From January 2005, the team began to attend Edinburgh Sheriff Court in the mornings and kept a watching brief, with week-end and afternoon visits to the two police offices. Attendance at the Sheriff Court brought a large increase in numbers of referrals and at the same time, from 31 March 2005, the team leader became half-time AR team leader and half-time bail officer. The visits to the police offices were therefore replaced by phone calls and finally stopped in Spring 2005.

In March 2005, a bid was submitted to expand the service in recognition of the large increase in throughput following the inclusion of the Sheriff Court. The proposal was for one team leader plus 4 ARWs. In 2005, SACRO began a new parallel service for street sex workers called the 'Another Way Service'. They are also exploring the possibility of providing a service to alcohol misusers.

The AR pilot is project managed by SACRO. It reports to a Service Advisory Group, chaired by Midlothian Criminal Justice Social Work with membership from the Edinburgh DAAT, SACRO, Lothian & Borders Police, Criminal Justice Social Work, voluntary sector, CDPS and Procurator Fiscals office.

The AR team currently attends Edinburgh Sheriff Court between 10am and 1pm. Often, two ARWs attend together in order to deal with the high volume of prisoners and to get the paperwork completed quickly. They walk round the prisoner cell areas, go up to the cell bars and ask if anyone would like help with an alcohol or drug problem. Prisoners may respond affirmatively and in this case the worker simply takes their name, or they may come up to the bars to discuss the scheme. The ARW gives the Reliance custody staff a list of names, and the arrestees are brought through one-by-one to see them.

The ARW interviews the arrestees in the same area that the defence agents use to see their clients. There is a long row of windows (like old fashioned bank cashier windows) but the AR team has negotiated to use an end-space which is more private and somewhat screened from the defence agents. The interview takes about 15-20 minutes and is conducted in a conversational style using a form with open-ended responses rather than tick boxes. The ARW gives harm reduction information and collects information about key areas: personal details; offence; drug use and harm reduction; health and GP registration; housing and living arrangements, children; employability; benefits. The ARW discusses confidentiality and sharing information with other agencies and ends with 3 customer feedback questions. A business card is handed over to the arrestee which has contact details and the date of the follow-up appointment. A note of key actions agreed is written on the back. EMARS offers follow-up appointments within the next few days at the SACRO office.

There are 6 main pathways to treatment agencies via EMARS:

• For a small number, AR is the first contact with a treatment agency
• Re-start following a lapse of contact with a treatment agency
• New referrals to a different agency
• Safeguarding contacts e.g. keeping place on waiting list for methadone, DTTO requirements
• Enhancing existing agency contacts e.g. with new information on re-lapse of drug use
• Provide information, advice, brief intervention in interview (it may take several meetings like this before arrestee becomes engaged)

EMARS refers on to a range of drug or alcohol services and to local geographically based services. It is working with service agencies to establish additional ways of linking arrestees into services - e.g. holding a drop-in for follow-up appointments at NEDAC (North Edinburgh Drug Advice Centre).

Glasgow

The Arrest Referral pilot in Glasgow is a joint initiative involving Greater Glasgow NHS Board, City of Glasgow Council and Strathclyde Police and covering both drugs and alcohol. The ARWs themselves (1 team leader and 3 support workers) are employed by the social work department and the AR team is part of the Community Addiction Team which is a service run jointly by health and social work.

AR in Glasgow is based on a proactive model with the target group defined as any arrestee whose offending appears to be alcohol or drugs-related and is over 16 years and who falls within any of the following categories:

1. Those detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) - especially those arrested for offences of possession and/or possession with intent to supply and who appear to have, or are known to have, problems associated with their addiction
2. Those detained in relation to drug related acquisitive offending - especially, but not exclusively, shoplifting/burglary/theft
3. Those who are arrested as a result of involvement in prostitution ( e.g. soliciting) and where there is a known or perceived substance misuse related issue
4. Those detained as a result of alcohol or drug-related disorder including breach of the peace
5. Those with a history of homelessness, as there is a high correlation between homelessness, substance misuse and related offending

In practice, however, there have been periods when the AR service in Glasgow has effectively been offered to all arrestees, regardless of whether or not they meet the above criteria.

The scheme was launched officially on 4 October 2004 and operates out of Strathclyde Police E Division headquarters at London Road police office. A special AR suite has been constructed near the front reception desk which consists of two independent rooms, separated by a special screen through which the ARW and arrestee can speak. The ARW has a desk and administrative facilities, and a computer with access to the CareFirst database (the main social work department information system).

The scheme is entirely police-mediated with the custody sergeant informing the arrestee of the AR service, at the point of entry to the custody bar. The arrestee is asked to sign a consent sheet and the police page of the monitoring form is completed. For all arrestees offered AR, the place an Arrest Referral information sheet into the prisoner's property bag for later reference.

The ARWs attend London Road between 2 and 6pm, Monday to Friday and between 10 and 4p.m. on Sundays (no attendance on Saturdays). Sunday is the busiest day with referrals from Friday and Saturday seen then too. There are usually 3-4 referrals on weekdays and up to 8 or more on Sundays. The ARW collects consent sheets from a folder left at the custody sergeant's desk. After checking CareFirst (to see if there are any open workers or services from addictions or any other social work section) they give the forms back to the custody sergeant who then has the prisoners brought through one at a time to the AR suite. The ARW conducts an initial interview, lasting usually 15 but up to 40 minutes, checking consents, introducing the service and the associated research, providing information about services, and making phone calls to solicitors, practitioners, solicitors as requested by the arrestee. A basic monitoring form is completed to gather core data as specified by the Scottish Executive.

The AR team then aim to see the arrestee at the Newlands Centre again within a day or 2 of discharge from London Road. They send out several letters to chase up arrestees and will do joint home visits to those they interviewed at London Road. They write to and will visit remanded prisoners.

Initially, follow-up appointment letters were sent to arrestees who had been missed at London Road. Follow up appointment times were also offered directly to arrestees interviewed by ARWs. However, arrestees did not keep specific appointments. Therefore the AR team moved towards offerring a new drop-in service (initially open 1-4pm on Monday and Wednesday only, but later open four days Monday to Thursday).

The AR team keep arrestees on their books for 4-6 weeks, completing the baseline assessment of the single shared assessment before they are allocated to the two Community Addiction Teams ( CATs) in Parkhead and Easterhouse. The AR team make some direct referrals to services, including voluntary sector alcohol counselling (Glasgow Council on Alcohol, GEAP) or where the arrestee does not want be referred to social work. A CAT worker will generally see the arrestee within 10-20 days, but as all nursing staff of the CAT are very busy, there is often a wait of a few months for detox, and of six-weeks or so for a methadone clinic. There are long waiting lists for residential rehabilitation. It is the CAT team rather than the AR team which links with service agencies. The AR team can ask for individual feedback on arrestee progress from CAT team members. They can also consult CareFirst though the information available is of varying quality and completeness.

The AR pilot is managed by two multi-agency groups, a strategic steering group which meets bi-monthly and an operational steering group which meets monthly. The strategic group includes the police Divisional Commander, police office managers, custody shift leader, police Training officer, two CAT managers, GGNHSB manager, pharmacy, Addiction Services manager and AR team manager. The operational group consists of the whole AR team, police office manager and a custody staff representative, CAT team managers, criminal justice representative and voluntary sector representatives.

Tayside

The Tayside AR pilot is operated by National Children's Homes ( NCH) Scotland across 3 sites; Perth, Dundee and Arbroath. Again, the pilot involved the extension of an existing scheme, operating in Perth since July 2000 and across Tayside as a whole from September 2002.

The scheme follows a pro-active model, using the point of crisis (arrest) to provide the accused with the opportunity of accessing assessment and treatment. Involvement in the scheme is entirely voluntary and it is not a criminal justice process in itself nor is it a part of the criminal justice system. Detainees are not rewarded for co-operation nor disadvantaged for non-participation in the scheme

Each of the AR sites aims to provide a service for drug/alcohol users at the point of arrest and to assist the individual in accessing a range of possible interventions dependent on their assessed needs. As the scheme is administered by NCH Scotland, there is a particular focus on service provision for young people (aged 16-25). In practice, however, no arrestees are considered unsuitable for referral via the scheme since most have young children, are part of a family or may, through their substance use, impact on the lives of young people and so be considered to fall within the broad remit of the organisation. The AR scheme does not provide service to arrestees accused of domestic violence offences. These individuals are seen by a dedicated police officer and a service is offered to the perpetrators via the local authority Social Work Dept in Dundee and Angus.

The Tayside AR pilot employs 4 ARWs (2 full-time, 2 part-time) and 1 Senior ARW. It operates from police offices at Dundee and Arbroath and mainly from Sheriff Court cells at Perth. However, referral to the scheme operates independently of the police except in 2 instances. These instances of police mediation relate to:

• the small number of arrestees who are placed in custody in Perth but who do not appear in the Sheriff Court (these arrestees are interviewed at the police office before being released) - the custody sergeant speaks to arrestees who they perceive to be suitable about the scheme, asks them if they would like to see someone about drug or alcohol issues and notifies the ARW about individuals who request assistance; and,
• the Angus custody suite where the ARWs consult with custody sergeants as to the number of suitable arrestees in custody before arriving at the police office.

In general, everyone in custody (barring those who are excluded because of their age or offence type) is offered help by the ARWs. In each location, workers have access to the details of those held in custody and go around the cells, asking arrestees if they require any help with drug or alcohol issues. If they respond positively, the workers provide some basic information about the scheme, ask them a few short questions and arrange for them to be taken to an appropriate interviewing area. If an arrestee lives outwith the Tayside area, the same process can take place but generally only if the arrestee is currently working with Social Work, Health etc. so that information regarding referral can be passed on to the relevant person.

The interview generally takes around 20 to 30 minutes. The assessment form used in the interview has developed (and grown) according to the needs of NCH Scotland, the Scottish Executive and service providers (information is collected to enable the completion of an SMR 24 Drug Use Assessment Form during the interview). Following the interview, consents are taken from the arrestee and they are informed that a copy of the scheme's information leaflet and a monitoring form (this instrument, asking arrestees about their satisfaction with aspects of the interview, was put in place voluntarily by the scheme) will be placed in their belongings for when they are released from custody. When the outcomes of court appearances etc. are known by the ARW, individual details from the assessment forms are transferred onto the relevant forms for service providers etc. and, if appropriate, referrals are initiated.

The degree of follow-up work conducted with arrestees varies according to the needs of the individual and the location of the assessment. Some arrestees may need to be accompanied to appointments or may require other forms of assistance or representation, while others may require counselling, etc., which can be provided by ARWs. Location affects such follow-up work in so far as workers in Dundee and Angus are less likely to be able to provide such assistance because of the volume of arrestees seen and the number of hours worked respectively. A part-time worker has recently been appointed in Dundee to provide further opportunities for such work and to provide a service for arrestees (often from vulnerable groups) released from police custody after a short time and undertaken to appear at court.

Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde ( RERI)

The pilot Arrest Referral project in Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde ( RERI) is operated by Turning Point Scotland's CACTUS project (Creating Alternatives to Custody Through Understanding and Support). This voluntary sector project offers a variety of support services to people with problems relating to their drug use and who are involved with criminal justice services, including one-to-one support, group work, goal setting, alternative therapies, and referrals to other agencies.

CACTUS first started an Arrest Referral service in 2002, with initial funding from the Tudor Trust and the New Opportunities Fund, which covered Renfrewshire only. The subsequent funding from the Scottish Executive allowed its extension to East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. AR in Renfrewshire itself has two unusual features. First, CACTUS not only provides Arrest Referral - it is also the main drug treatment support service in the three Local Authority areas, so AR workers often refer clients on to other aspects of CACTUS' services for further treatment and support. Second, the Renfrewshire Arrest Referral pilot receives referrals from Criminal Justice Social Work and self-referrals, as well as referrals from the police.

The target group for the scheme as a whole is clients 16 or over, who are experiencing problematic drug use, live in 1 of the 3 local authority areas and have a current link with criminal justice services.

In Renfrewshire, Arrest Referral is offered to arrestees by a police officer in Mill Street police office, Paisley. However, because there are no facilities to conduct the interview there, the first Arrest Referral assessment takes place in Paisley Sheriff Court. Once an arrestee agrees to see an Arrest Referral worker the police officer faxes a one page form to CACTUS (usually by 9.30 a.m.) and a worker then goes to the Sheriff Court to conduct an initial assessment. This usually takes place on Monday to Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and lasts approximately 15 minutes. Facilities to conduct the assessment in the sheriff court are good with a two-way interview room. After the initial assessment an appointment is made for the client to come back to see the Arrest Referral worker (who is a member of the CACTUS team and therefore a service provider as well as an AR worker) and a full assessment is made which lasts approximately one to one and half hours.

In East Renfrewshire, referrals are received by CACTUS staff either by fax from Helen Street police office, Govan, or by fax for arrestees who have been charged on the street but not detained in a police cell. Regardless of how the referral is received, the initial interview is not conducted in the police cells as there is nowhere suitable to do so. Therefore, up to three letters are sent to arrestees who have agreed to see an Arrest Referral worker and the onus is on the potential client to make contact with CACTUS staff, where they will make arrangements for an initial assessment to take place.

In Inverclyde, Arrest Referral is offered to arrestees by a police officer in Greenock police office and CACTUS are notified of potential clients by fax. Initial assessments are not conducted in the police cells but in Greenock Sheriff Court, between 10 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. Further full assessments are conducted at CACTUS' premises in West Black Hall Street every Monday all day and Tuesday morning.

In addition CACTUS have rooms in St. Andrews House, Social Work Head Quarters in East Renfrewshire; Johnstone Social Work Department and a shop front in Renfrew High Street where full assessments of clients from any of the three Local Authorities can take place. This form of outreach work enables clients to see a CACTUS worker in a venue which is convenient to them.

Key partners involved in either the planning or delivery of Arrest Referral in RERI are shown below.

Arrest Referral within CACTUS has a Service Manager; a Project Administrator; five Project Workers; and one sessional team member. Turning Point has their own training that all CACTUS staff have access to but this is not specific Arrest Referral training. CACTUS staff are Arrest Referral trained through work shadowing with colleagues

The main bodies CACTUS report to are Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde councils with whom they meet every six weeks. There is also an Arrest Referral Forum which brings together staff from Arrest Referral sites all over Scotland. The forum meets quarterly. Annual reports are also submitted to, and a meeting held with, the New Opportunities Fund.

Dumfries & Galloway

The Dumfries & Galloway scheme is operated by APEX Scotland, a voluntary organisation focusing on the employability needs of offenders, ex-offenders and young people at risk. Although new, the scheme followed an earlier decision, to fund AR work, by a partnership involving Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary, the Treatment Subgroup of the Alcohol and Drugs Action Team ( ADAT) and the Holywood Trust.

Originally tendered in August 2003, the scheme was launched in March 2004, and referrals were taken from 1 April 2004.

The pilot follows an enhanced, proactive model and targets anyone over the age of 16, with drug or alcohol related offending, arrested on minor offences, persistent offending or warrants, resident in Dumfries and Galloway. Individuals may have been referred before and may be already in treatment.

The AR scheme is based at the two main police offices at Dumfries and Stranraer, both open 24 hours a day and the only ones to take custodies. All the other thirteen police offices in the area hold information posters, leaflets and triplicate referral books and fax referrals to the main stations. Arrestees are also seen at APEX offices in Dumfries and Stranraer. From January 2005 the ARW also began attending the Stranraer Sheriff Court. From the outset, APEX had a team leader mostly based at Dumfries, plus an ARW at each site. The ARWs are also on call but are very rarely contacted.

At Dumfries police office, the ARW shares a desk (hot desks) with the Victim Support Officer, which is behind the police public reception bar, alongside police clerical staff and is therefore not private. The ARW also has use of an interview room near the cells, adjacent to the custody bar, with no dividing screen. In practice the AR service has preferred to use the APEX office interview room, a few yards down the street. The ARW is available Monday-Friday and Sunday, the busiest day. Outreach work is also undertaken from the APEX building

In Stranraer interviews are now carried out at both the police office and Sheriff Court interview rooms. The sites are five minutes walk from the APEX office in the town centre and in close proximity to several of the drug service agencies. In Stranraer the ARW is available every day except Wednesday and Saturday and attends two days at Court (excluding Mondays which are busy Court days). Reliance takes custodies to Court by 9.30-10 a.m. and also escorts custodies within Court to the interview room. Custodies are seen on Sundays at the police office prior to Monday appearance at Court.

At Dumfries and Stranraer police offices a poster behind the custody bar advertises the AR service. The Custody officer reads from a prepared script to inform the arrestee of AR at booking in. The custody is referred directly to an ARW if available on site or a Triplicate Referral Book slip is completed and left in the ARW pigeonhole. These and other stations' paper referrals form the bulk of the AR work. If no interview takes place an AR card is placed in the arrestee's property bag.

At the initial 10-15 minute interview, at the police office or APEX office, the ARW explains the service and completes a personal information sheet and an Arrest Referral form. The arrestee signs a confidentiality statement and is given an AR card with contact details and next appointment. At the first or subsequent interview an Action Plan is completed and a follow up appointment is made for full assessment as soon as possible.

If not on site, the ARW later collects the referral slip and offers an appointment by phone or mostly by letter. Appointments are made at sites to suit the Arrestee e.g. Apex offices; Annan job centre; a drug support agency in Castle Douglas; Sanquhar job centre; social services department; community centres; GP surgeries. Home visits are not generally undertaken but if they are they are done in pairs.

Referral to services is usually made by telephone or letter. The local service agencies generally copy the initial appointment letter to the AR team and the ARWs provide intermediate care if the waiting time is long. The AR team refers to drug treatment services for relapse prevention and also to residential rehabilitation, plus to a range of other services. A major problem is the difficulties and gaps in services provision locally. These include: waiting times for housing; a lack of forensic psychology, anger management, or counselling services; waiting times for the area's only prescribing service (Cameron House) and gaps in shared care; chemists being full to capacity for methadone dispensing and therefore arrestees having to travel long distances to alternative chemists.

The pilot reports to a monthly Steering Group chaired by the local ADAT (currently chaired by the Chief Constable). It includes representatives from the Hollywood Trust; the ADAT; Criminal Justice Social Work; Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary (a custody sergeant and the substance misuse coordinator); APEX Scotland and the AR Team Leader. There was no current Health Board representation. Members also sit on other groups e.g. the Local Treatment sub group, the Forensic Care Forum. The Stranraer ARW attends a monthly drug forum which facilitates communication with local service agencies.

Dumfries & Galloway is currently piloting a new police database for the whole of Scotland. There is planned to be a section on Arrest Referral and there is ongoing discussion about accessing custody records. This is in the process of being finalised.

Lanarkshire

The Lanarkshire AR scheme started in July 2004 following the receipt of Scottish Executive funding. No AR scheme was in place prior to the establishment of the current arrangements although the scheme effectively built upon Lanarkshire's Transitional Care service. The scheme operates at three sites in Bellshill, Cumbernauld and Hamilton and is managed from the SACRO office in Motherwell.

The proposal for Scottish Executive funding was formulated (May/June 2004) jointly by SACRO, Lanarkshire ADAT, police drugs awareness officers and superintendents from the stations at which the service would operate. The service was targeted upon certain police offices rather than providing an 'across-the-board' service; Lanark police office was therefore excluded from the scheme due to the its relatively low throughput while Bellshill was included as it provides facilities specifically for female arrestees, who are brought there from throughout Lanarkshire. The scheme provides a voluntary service for adult (16 and over) drug users resident in Lanarkshire. It aims to intervene at the point of crisis (arrest) when motivation to address substance use problems may be greatest. Individuals are provided with assistance on the basis of their immediate needs and may be referred to a range of services following assessment. Due to the lack of such services in Lanarkshire those suffering solely from alcohol problems were not targeted by the scheme.

Since January 2005, problems with staffing (the absence of the Team Leader) reportedly had an adverse effect on service provision and the effectiveness of the scheme. For most of the pilot period, the scheme was administered by one full-time ARW (later joined by one worker on a sessional basis) who divided their time between the locations. There were significant delays in providing a service at Hamilton police office; referrals did not commence until November 2004 and interview facilities were not provided at any time during the pilot. Instead, towards the end of the pilot, the scheme began operating from Hamilton Sheriff Court, utilising Reliance staff to mediate contact with arrestees. It was hoped that this location would eventually provide the majority of referrals to the scheme.

When operating from the police offices, the Lanarkshire AR scheme was police-mediated and therefore dependent upon the knowledge and co-operation of staff at each of the sites. Custody Sergeants operating at the stations were generally well informed about the scheme, but problems arose when officers from outwith the locale provided cover. Relations between Reliance staff and the worker were seen as cordial and those Reliance staff who participated were reported to be proactive in approaching detainees with information about the scheme.

Custody staff (police or Reliance) ask arrestees they perceive as having a substance use problem if they would like to speak to someone about these issues. Details of the scheme and the referrals it can make are provided and, if consent is provided the team are contacted. Details of consenting arrestees (name, sex, date of birth, address, phone number) are faxed or provided to the worker upon arrival at the police office/court. In most cases, arrestees are then identified and taken to the relevant area to be interviewed (at present, Hamilton police office arrestees are contacted by mail regarding appointments). The initial interview lasts around 10 minutes and gathers basic information on drug use, personal needs and a basic care plan is formulated. Following the interview, consents are taken from the arrestee and they are informed that a copy of the scheme's information leaflet will be placed in their belongings. Information about the outcome of individual cases is passed to the ARW and informs decisions about whether referrals to service providers are be made.

In order to facilitate referrals, a further appointment is scheduled to take place at the SACRO office in Motherwell or at a Social Work Office near their home within five days of their release from custody. This interview collects more detailed information, allowing a care plan to be formulated. Details from the assessment form are then transferred onto the scheme's database and referrals are initiated. The degree of follow-up work conducted with arrestees varies on the basis of individual need (some arrestees required accompaniment when attending appointments or other forms of assistance or representation; others required the worker to provide counselling etc.).

Problems associated with the administration of the AR scheme at the police offices chiefly concerned the timing and location of interviews. Initial interviews with arrestees must be completed before 7 a.m. to enable shift changes and the transport of arrestees to court. Also, at neither of the operational police sites did the AR staff have exclusive use of an interview space. The worker had to compete with solicitors and medical staff for use of the available space and, due to the pressure on facilities, was not permitted to interview on Monday mornings when the highest throughput was experienced. No CCTV or physical separation of worker and arrestee was evident in these interview settings; staff stationed nearby provided supervision Interviews at Hamilton Sheriff Court were carried out in a portioned area in the cells which was not regarded as being particularly private. Reliance staff at the court were not provided with training about drug issues or AR; the scheme was in the process of remedying these problems during the early stages of its operation at that site.

Service provision in respect of drug use across Lanarkshire is reported to be very good. Waiting times for access to services are not regarded as problematic -a maximum of 4-6 weeks. Services are distributed fairly equally across the area and relationships between the AR scheme and local service providers are reported to be good. The main agencies referred to are the Community Addiction Team and Lanarkshire Drug Services in cases where a substitute prescription is required and the Substance Misuse Team in instances where counseling is needed. The ARW is able to devote some time to escorting vulnerable clients to appointments (which may help maximise the take-up of referrals to outside agencies) although few require such assistance.

A steering group responsible for the service met up until the end of 2004. Reportedly, this operated very well but stopped convening due to the ill health of one of its members. Informal meetings with the drugs awareness officers continue on a fairly regular basis. The steering group had representatives from: Criminal Justice Manager, North Lanarkshire Council; Social Work, Addictions; Health; Service Manager, SACRO; Drug Awareness Officers, Strathclyde Police (North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Division).