Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have discontinued drug and alcohol treatment within (a) three months and (b) six months of starting such treatment in each of the last seven financial years; and what plans his Department has to reduce such discontinuation rates.

Public Health England (PHE) publishes national statistics on alcohol and drug treatment.

The numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10 are shown in the following table.

Numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10

Source: Substance misuse treatment for adults: statistics 2016 to 2017 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-and-treatment-in-adults-statistics-2016-to-2017

In 2016-17, nearly 280,000 people received treatment for alcohol and drugs, a decrease of 3% and the largest drop seen over the last six years. This decrease is largely due to the reduction in people starting treatment for alcohol problems only. The numbers of people getting treatment for alcohol has fallen by 12% from a peak of 91,651 in 2013-14.

PHE is assessing the reasons for the fall in alcohol treatment numbers through work with local authorities to look closely at treatment numbers and reasons for changes in the number of people in treatment. Based on this, PHE will be providing advice to local authorities.

Data on numbers of people who have discontinued treatment is not available in the format requested.

PHE is continuing to support local authorities to commission effective, accessible treatment services to meet local need. It does this by providing data, including online management reporting and a new Public Health Dashboard, as well as guidance and other tailored support for local authorities.