To receive a report from the Director of Public Health.

The Public Health Consultant introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda. The report detailed the developments and leadership ongoing around substance and alcohol use for young people and how the Director of Operations at Early Break was in attendance to add detail to the wider programmes of work. The Public Health Consultant highlighted to the Committee that there was a new alcohol substance misuse and gambling group formed in Trafford that reported to the Health and Wellbeing Board, which had a nearly finalised action plan.

The Director of Operations at Early Break spoke to the work ongoing at Early Break and how focused they were on prevention, and not just to deliver treatment services, which they felt would strengthen the report. The Director of Operations pulled out the highlights of this work. This included working with families and operating a structured approach, working closely with young people with parents who had experience of substance misuse. Further to this, the Committee were informed of a group in the Northwest, chaired by Early Break, which looked at new and existing substance issues and collaborated closely with academics across the region to look at what education needs to be pushed out.

The Director of Operations also spoke of referral performance, which was now better than in 2019/20. The Committee were reassured that data showing an increase in use of the youth offending service was not a concern, rather that it was due to a designated officer now in place to support young people. Other themes such as outreach, pathways for cared for children, and recent earning of the Rainbow flag, which showed accessibility for LGBTQ+ young people to access the service was also shared. 

The Public Health Commissioning Manager spoke of the emerging substances for young people. The Committee were informed that work was ongoing around youth vaping which had become a more prevalent issue in recent years. This included teaching the associated risks of vaping in schools and providing webinars to parents alongside education colleagues. Feedback from these webinars were shared, with education around unregulated vapes being required being a common theme. The Committee were also referred to ongoing research projects on youth vaping. The Public Health Commissioning Manager also mentioned the increasingly emerging substance use of ketamine, with work ongoing alongside physical health colleagues to raise awareness of the dangers of ketamine use.

The officers were thanked for the report and Councillors were offered the opportunity to ask questions.

Councillor Paul asked if the services liaise with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to remove access to drugs and alcohol. The Director of Operations responded that Early Break had started getting referrals from GMP as part of the service aim for early intervention and prevention. It was also added that a group of young people. who had developed training and creative resources called ‘stressed out brain,’ which worked with young people to find what messages would be helpful to get the issue of substance misuse across. The Public Health Commissioning Manager mentioned that GMP were also in attendance at the Alcohol, Gambling and Substance misuse partnership.

Councillor Bennett asked how they recognise children who have a gambling problem. The Operations Director identified that it was difficult, with one of the preventative measures involved being looking at children who were heavily involved with gaming and the relationship this had or could have had with gambling. The Public Health Consultant added that understanding was more limited than alcohol and drugs. However, there was good training from people with a lived experience of gambling issues, which had received funding from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

Councillor Ennis referred to page six, table two of the report, which outlined a breakdown of substances Trafford young people referred to Early Break reported using, with the figure for cocaine rising from 7% in 2019/20 to 15% in 2022/23 and enquired why this had happened. The Director of Operations at Early Break responded that during lockdown, dealers began offering the drug at much lower quantities than grams. She felt that it was a collaborative issue, which had not been helped by its association with wealth.

The Chair followed this question by asking if the service splits figures by different areas, and whether different drugs were used more prominently in wealthier or more deprived areas. The Director of Operations responded that cocaine was an issue across the borough, not just in the wealthier areas. The Chair asked further if this led to an increase in crime. The Director of Operations responded that it did lead to further criminal exploitation. The Public Health Consultant added that there had been a violence needs assessment submitted to the Home Office, which looked at taking a public health approach to violence reduction, which had provided some trends.

Councillor Duncan asked whether partners were working with headteachers and families to help tackle the rise in drug use over recent years, and wondered if this was linked with the rise in vaping. The Director of Operations mentioned that the link was there as vaping had exploded over recent years. They mentioned work ongoing with schools, especially safeguarding leads within schools, and that all the work Early Break does cooperates with the family. In terms of families, the Public Health Commissioning Manager expanded on the hidden harm audit which was being developed, and aimed to make sure that services were asking the questions around the whole family and the impact of hidden harm.

Councillor Procter also raised concern at the rise in ketamine usage and how this would be dealt with. The Director of Operations at Early Break responded that they were leading on this regionally, looking at the evidence, harms, and information that was given to young people, whilst also ensuring that it was credible to maintain trust with young people accessing the service.

Councillor Parker asked if work was being done around the rise in colourful vaping shops on the high street. The Public Health Commissioning Manager added that public health pays toward a trading standard post that looked at this and forms part of their work. The Public Health Consultant noted recent Government policy on vaping, and the hope that that this would reduce the colours and marketing of vaping. It was also mentioned that colleagues in trading standards and regulatory services, were very much on board with dealing with this issue.

Councillor Hirst asked whether there was different substance misuse with older adolescents compared to younger children. The Director of Operations responded that the older age range was much higher when Early Break started work on substance use, with the work on early intervention playing a role in supporting bringing this down. Councillor Hirst followed this by asking if there were a smooth transition when a young person turns twenty-one and began accessing adults’ services, or were they held onto. The Director of Operations informed the Councillor that young adults do tend to stay with Early Break until they turn twenty-five and transition into adults’ services.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.