Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of drug-related deaths.

Drug-related deaths are tragically at record highs and this government is committed to gripping this problem.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is actively working to reduce the number of drug-related deaths and has invested an additional £267 million in drug and alcohol treatment this year, improving the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment services in England.

This is supporting delivery of a national action plan to prevent a greater number of drug and alcohol-related deaths. The plan has five priorities around improving: treatment practice; local systems; toxicology and surveillance; stigma; and poly-drug and alcohol use. Guidance was published in September 2024 Preventing drug and alcohol deaths: partnership review process - GOV.UK to help local partnerships set up and evaluate their review processes for drug-related deaths, alcohol-related deaths and near-fatal overdoses.

Alongside this, the Home Office is providing funding to law enforcement partners to target the organised crime groups and county lines gangs supplying harmful drugs to our streets.

A further part of our response is addressing the threat from synthetic drugs, including synthetic opioids like nitazenes, as well as synthetic cannabinoids and benzodiazepines, which have been linked to drug related deaths in the UK. The Home Office, DHSC, National Crime Agency, Border Force and the National Police Chiefs Council are working with local partners to proactively monitor the situation, tracking drug related deaths and other intelligence to ensure a quick response to respond to the threat as required. This includes expanding access to naloxone, a life-saving medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, including synthetic opioids.

Through our mission-driven government, we will continue to work with partners across health, policing, devolved governments and wider public services to coordinate and drive down drug use and build a fairer Britain for all.