Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support partnerships between local pharmacies and drug and alcohol support charities to deliver harm reduction services.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve alcohol and drug treatment services and recovery support, including housing and employment, in England. This funding can be used by local authorities to support community pharmacies to deliver harm reduction services.

Many community pharmacies provide locally commissioned services aimed at reducing harm from the misuse of alcohol and drugs, such as supervised consumption of methadone alongside support for self-care, which is an essential service all pharmacies provide. This includes free healthcare advice, public health interventions, and signposting to relevant organisations and services.

The Department is aware of the challenges in the ability of some community pharmacies to provide some substance misuse services such as dispensing, supervised consumption of methadone, and needle and syringe programmes.

The Department has been supporting drug and alcohol treatment services to identify local solutions, including increased payment and some alternative models of provision of these services.