Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure access to drug treatment services for those leaving prison on day of release.

Everyone leaving prison with a need for drug and alcohol treatment should be able to access high-quality provision that enables them to recover from their problems as quickly as possible. We will continue to ensure that the full range of evidence-based treatment interventions is available to address drug and alcohol needs among people who are in prison, or who have left prison, including abstinence-based interventions, to support recovery from drug and alcohol dependency.

A cross-Government implementation group has been established to support the introduction of the changes to the Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) that were announced in July, and includes the Ministry of Justice, HM Prison and Probation Service, the Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England.

In September, the Department and NHS England issued clear clinical advice to support the delivery of SDS40 and give local services more flexibility to use additional drug and alcohol treatment and recovery grants to meet local needs.