Drug-related Deaths in England and Wales

Baroness Pinnock Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I understand what the noble Lord is saying. Synthetic opioids, as he will know, are certainly more potent, and indeed can be more deadly, than other forms of drugs. We are working with other government departments to enhance the surveillance to which he refers and to improve early warning in response to the threat of synthetic opioids, and we will continue that work.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, many charities that support those with drug addiction are raising concerns about the increased costs that they will have to fund as a result of the increases in national insurance charges. What assessment have the Government made of the impact on those critical services being able to support those with drug addictions?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Baroness will have heard me say before that we had to take some tough decisions at the Budget to fix the foundations in the public finances, and that enabled a settlement for the Department of Health and Social Care of some £22.6 billion. As she knows, the employer national insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025, and in due course the department will set out further details of the allocation of the funding I referred to for next year.