Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of specialist residential drug and alcohol treatment in (a) England and (b) the North East.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, including residential treatment, and commissioning services to meet these needs. The Department set an ambition that 2% of the drug and alcohol treatment population should be accessing residential treatment. We remain committed to this ambition and continue to work with the sector to achieve this.

Earlier this year, the Department launched the self-assessment toolkit to help local areas to improve the residential drug and alcohol treatment that they commission, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residential-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-self-assessment-toolkit

The Department facilitates a residential treatment provider forum and engages in annual planning for local authorities and partners, including target-setting for residential episodes. The Department also maintains regular engagement with the English Substance Use Commissioners Group and holds joint meetings with the Ministry of Justice to explore improved pathways from the criminal justice system into residential treatment.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Government is providing the North East with £29,432,782 in further targeted grants to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. This additional funding has provided opportunity for local authorities in the North East to enhance access to out of area facilities and bolster community models of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery support, including quasi residential rehabilitation and dayhab models.