Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to mandate NHS England to ensure that community advice services are established to provide advice to patients suffering from the impact of long-term use of dependence forming medication.

There are no plans to mandate NHS England to establish community advice services for this purpose. The Government is currently developing its approach to the mandate to NHS England for 2018-19, in light of the extra £2.8 billion to 2019/20 provided through the Autumn Budget to support the National Health Service. Both NHS England and Healthwatch England are involved in its development as statutory consultees.

The Department has commissioned Public Health England to undertake an evidence review to better understand the scope of the problem of prescribed drug dependence. The review will bring together the best available evidence on prevalence and prescribing; the nature and likely causes of dependence or withdrawal among people who continue to take these medicines; and effective prevention and treatment responses for each indication.