Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people who overdose on prescription opioids.

The Government is concerned about the impact of long term use of prescription opioids. The Department has commissioned Public Health England to undertake an evidence review to better understand the scope of the problem of prescribed drug dependence.

The review will bring together the best available evidence on prevalence and prescribing; the nature and likely causes of dependence or discontinuation syndrome among some people who continue to take these medicines; and effective prevention and treatment responses for each condition they are prescribed for.