Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will have discussions with Greater Manchester Police on the potential impact of not supplying naloxone to frontline officers on levels of drug-related deaths.

Naloxone is an important lifesaving medicine to respond to suspected opioid overdoses, when used alongside other first aid measures, and is mitigating the threat posed by synthetic opioids.

Work has been ongoing for several years led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office to support police carriage of this medicine, leveraging officers’ frequent interactions with individuals at risk of overdose to reduce drug-related deaths. In September 2024 and May 2025, I wrote to Chief Constables in England and Wales to reiterate my support for all police forces to roll-out the voluntary provision of naloxone to operational officers.

The Home Office and NPCC recently published data showing that, as of December 2024, approximately 7,300 police officers in England and Wales regularly carry naloxone. The medicine had been administered over 550 times by police since June 2019, and only two out of 43 police forces had no plans to carry. One of those forces is Greater Manchester Police.

Whilst the provision of naloxone for police officers remains voluntary and is an operational decision for Chief Constables, the Government is strongly supportive of forces making this highly effective antidote available.

The NPCC and the Home Office are in ongoing dialogue with all police forces on this topic.