Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they do not collect data centrally on benzodiazepine dependence.
Accurate data on benzodiazepine dependence is not currently available. The Department has commissioned Public Health England (PHE) to undertake an evidence review to better understand the scope of the problem of prescribed drug dependence. As part of this review PHE will attempt to estimate the number of people affected including through prescription data collected by NHS Business Services Authority.