Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of data by the Office for National Statistics Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2022 on 22 April, which revealed that 2022 was the highest year on record for deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, what plans they have to publish an alcohol-specific strategy.

Through the 2021 Drugs Strategy we are making the largest ever single increase in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding, with £780 million of additional investment. Of this, £532 million is being invested to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England, including alcohol treatment services. The Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant is the mechanism by which local authorities receive Drug Strategy funding. This is additional to the amounts invested through the Public Health Grant. The following table shows the SSMTR Grant and the Inpatient Detox (IPD) Grant allocations for the North East, in 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25, as well as the total for those three years:

The Department is also providing £1,157,212 in funding to three local authorities in the North East, specifically Middlesborough, Newcastle, and Durham, to improve access to drug and alcohol treatment services for people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, NHS England has made over £30 million available to local healthcare systems to facilitate the delivery of specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals in the areas with the highest rates of alcohol harm and socioeconomic deprivation.

The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities is developing comprehensive United Kingdom guidelines for the clinical management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence. The overarching aim of the guideline is to develop a clear consensus on good practice, and improve the quality of treatment and support.