The Government announced last week that the 61.8m Young People's Substance Misuse Partnership Grant will be cut by more than 10 per cent in 2007-08.The Home Office's contribution to the fund will decrease by 2.6m, while the Department of Health will pull 4m from the fund.
The survey by the Drug Education Forum found the vast majority of DAATs (92 per cent) said that their funding for drugs education comes from the Young People's Substance Misuse Partnership Grant.
It also found that previous budget reductions have already been impacting on DAATs. Sixty per cent of the teams expressed concerns about cuts in funding, while 39 per cent stated that they had changed the way they apportioned funding to universal services because less funding was available.
Eighty-eight per cent said youth services should prioritise education and prevention or drugs outreach work. Andrew Brown, co-ordinator of the Drug Education Forum, said: "Just as figures on young people's drug misuse are turning a corner, the Government is cutting funding."
A Home Office spokeswo-man said the budget cuts were down to the "stabilisation" of young people's drug taking.
Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope, said: "Since last week about 18 drug and alcohol teams have contacted me all confirming cuts. They stated that they were also not warned about cuts either last year or this year."
