Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the drugs advice provided by FRANK in tackling use of illegal drugs.

FRANK, the Government’s drugs information and advice service, is run by Public Health England. It provides impartial, reliable and confidential information and advice about drugs. It can be used in both specific drug prevention activities and in general health and wellbeing activities which are designed to help individuals to build and develop the skills they need to be able to actively choose not to use drugs.

The last assessment of the website was run by the Home Office through the website user survey between 20 February – 11 March 2013. Key findings included:

• 85% said they are very/fairly likely to visit the FRANK website in the future if needed

• in total, 69% claimed that their visit to the FRANK website had a positive effect on their attitudes and/or behaviours in at least one way

FRANK continues to be updated to reflect new and emerging patterns of drug use, remain in line with young people’s media habits and strengthen situational advice and support. FRANK is just one part of our approach to reducing the demand for drugs. For example, Public Health England has launched a new online resilience building resource, ‘Rise Above’, aimed at 11- to 16-year-olds, which provides tools to help develop skills to make positive choices for their health, including avoiding drug use.