Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will make an assessment of whether the level of (a) drug-related deaths and (b) drug-related violence constitutes a public health emergency.

The Home Secretary has commissioned Dame Carol Black to undertake a major independent review into drug use, deaths and harm. The Review is looking at a wide range of issues, including the systems of support and enforcement around drug misuse, in order to inform action to tackle drug harms. Dame Carol will report, shortly, on the first stage of the review. The Government will consider carefully Dame Carol’s recommendations.