Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people with alcohol dependence.

A vital part of delivering the Health Mission shift to prevention will be action to reduce the harms from excess alcohol consumption. The Department is continuing to invest in improvements to local alcohol treatment services to ensure that those in need can access high quality help and support.

Funding for alcohol treatment services is provided through the public health grant. In addition, local authorities have received a further £267 million from the Department this year to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery, alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. This additional investment is improving the quality and capacity of alcohol treatment services in England, which includes action to expand the alcohol treatment and recovery workforce.

As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, over £30 million of national funding has been invested between 2019 and 2025, on an ambitious programme to establish new, or to optimise existing, Alcohol Care Teams in the 25% hospitals with the highest need, which are 47 out of the 188 eligible sites in England. This is estimated to prevent 50,000 avoidable admissions over five years.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities published a Commissioning Quality Standard providing guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas. This guide is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services

The UK clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment are expected to be published later this year, and will include recommendations to promote good practice.