Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the press release by the Department for Work and Pensions on 31 October 2014 on the families test, whether his Department has conducted such a test on its policy on long-term prescribing of methadone for opiate addicts.

Treatment for an addiction to opiates is a clinical matter, to be agreed between the individual and their treatment provider in the context of the relevant evidence-base and related authoritative guidance. Proper professional practice of those prescribing for addiction is regulated through mechanisms established by Parliament.

A 2013 inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission praised joint working between children’s social care and drug and alcohol services to ensure that children affected by their parents’ or carers’ difficulties were supported and safe.