A report by the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health said the Government's approach to a ‘drugs policy’ had failed, and there should be a greater focus on treatment and education. The Home Office defended its record, saying that drug misuse had declined over the past 10 years. The report said criminal sanctions failed to deter illegal drug use, undermined people's life chances, and could act as a barrier to addicts coming forward for help. It said the UK should adopt the Portuguese system under which people caught using drugs were offered treatment and support rather than being punished. However, dealers and suppliers would still be prosecuted. The report also suggested that drugs education should be made mandatory, and responsibility for drugs policy moved from the Home Office to the Department of Health. Those who misuse drugs are in need of treatment and support - not criminals in need of punishment.

Plans to shake up special educational needs funding for people with disabilities could see special units close. Cuts from £10,000 to £6,000 a year would be ‘disastrous’ and would not address the wide disparity in funding for children with similar needs. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said that the proposals do not address the so-called ‘top-up’ funding for children with very complex needs, where there are variabilities in funding levels for children with very similar needs (£2,000 of education funding in one local authority but £20,000 in another). The Department of Education needs to develop parameters and controls to ensure that funding is fairly distributed within local authorities. Recently, a primary school excluded thirty disabled children. Tory councillor John Lines has claimed that the 'unusually high' exclusion rate was part of a ploy to improve behaviour figures in a 'rush to become an academy'. See:

The Prison Reform Trust has proposed the establishment of a women’s centre on the site of the existing visitors’ centre at HMP Holloway, which is due to close later this month. Last December the trust wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice, following his announcement of Holloway’s closure, with a proposal to work with strategic partners to adapt the visitors’ centre (a purpose-built space refurbished by the Tudor Trust) into a women’s centre. Michael Gove confirmed at a Justice Committee meeting in March that the proposal was ‘a good idea’ and was under consideration by the Ministry of Justice. He has not yet acted to provide much-needed services for vulnerable women and a proper sentencing option for north and east London courts. Pray for resources to provide safe housing, mental health and addiction services, debt counselling, employment training and a crèche.

This week, on the anniversary of the Magna Carta (15 June), we can remember the words signed by King John that formed its first clause, ‘that for us and our heirs in perpetuity, the church shall be free, and shall have its rights in full and its liberties intact’. Over the referendum we can pray for our nation to rediscover our God-given identity and purpose, and be positioned for maximum influence in the days ahead. Jesus gave his Church the great commission, so that we can decree and declare over this land ‘freedom to the Church to fulfil its call to preach the gospel, heal the sick, set the captives free and to bring in the Kingdom to these nations.’ We praise and thank God for the freedoms which, based on His word, have been our inheritance, encompassed in our laws, and impacted the world.