Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the levels of non-fatal drug overdoses.

We know that most overdoses take place in the community. They are largely transitory and hidden events, making it difficult to accurately monitor trends in non-fatal overdoses. The Department monitors hospital admissions data for drug poisonings, which predominantly relate to non-fatal cases.

We will continue to report this proxy data to local authorities to inform monitoring of local progress on reducing deaths and harms from drugs. We are reviewing the best approach for monitoring national trends in harms.