5. Percentage of Scottish schools with agreed procedures for managing incidents of drug misuse

In 1996, increasing concern about drug misuse led HM Inspectors of Schools (HMI) to establish arrangements for monitoring the provision of drug education¹ through surveys of schools involved in the general inspection programme. The schools chosen for the general inspection programme provide a representative sample of provision in Scottish schools.

Indicator

Based on general inspection of 80 primary and 20 secondary schools in 1998/1999, whilst 90.0% of secondary schools had agreed procedures for dealing with incidents of drug misuse, in HMI’s view 42.5% of primaries still relied on insecure, informal arrangements, Table 1.7.

Comparing results from the general inspection programme in 1998/99 with those from the previous two years, HMI has concluded that there has been some improvement, but that much still remains to be done, Table 1.8.

Notes

Consultation is currently taking place on the introduction of a new annual schools census on drug education. The census will ask every school in Scotland whether they have ‘written procedures for managing incidents of drug misuse’ and if so, whether these procedures are in line with both current national advice and advice from their local authority.