Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to introduce needle and syringe exchanges for drugs users.

Needle exchange and syringe services have played a vital role in harm reduction since the 1980s, reducing the number of drug-related deaths and blood-borne virus infections, particularly hepatitis C and HIV. They are commissioned by local authorities and are supported in this by Public Health England. The United Kingdom’s drug treatment clinical guidelines published in 2017 includes guidance on needle and syringe programmes and is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673978/clinical_guidelines_2017.pdf