Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding in the Health Foundation's report published on 5 October 2021 that public health grant allocations to local councils used to fund drug treatment and recovery have fallen in real terms from £4.2 billion in 2015-16 to £3.3 billion in 2021-22, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Public Health Grant delivers a real term increase in funding for public health.

The 2021 Spending Review confirmed that the Public Health Grant for local authorities will increase in each of the next three years. In 2022/23, each local authority will receive a 2.81% increase, taking total funding to £3.417 billion.

On 6 December 2021, the Government published ‘From harm to hope: A 10-year strategy to cut drug crime and save lives’. To support delivery of the strategy, an additional £785 million will be invested over three years, including £532 million to be allocated via the Department to local drug treatment and recovery systems. This funding is in addition to the local authority Public Health Grant, from which we expect local authorities to continue to invest in drug and alcohol treatment and prevention services.