Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of young people dependent on (a) illicit drugs and (b) alcohol.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) are working with other Government departments to help prevent young people, including those from deprived backgrounds, from developing alcohol and drug problems. This includes supporting investment in programmes which have a positive impact on young people, giving them the confidence, resilience and risk management skills to resist drug use. Examples of this include:
- funding Mentor UK’s Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service which provides practical advice and tools based on the best international evidence, including briefing sheets for teachers; and
- running Rise Above, an online resilience building resource, aimed at 11- to 16-year-olds, which provides resources to help young people develop skills to make positive choices for their health, including avoiding drug use.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing their local need for alcohol and drug treatment and commissioning a range of accessible services to meet these needs.
PHE works with local authorities to support them in this vital work, by providing them with data, guidance and other bespoke support to help them tackle health inequalities.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle dependence on (a) illicit drugs and (b) alcohol among people from deprived backgrounds; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) are working with other Government departments to help prevent young people, including those from deprived backgrounds, from developing alcohol and drug problems. This includes supporting investment in programmes which have a positive impact on young people, giving them the confidence, resilience and risk management skills to resist drug use. Examples of this include:
- funding Mentor UK’s Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service which provides practical advice and tools based on the best international evidence, including briefing sheets for teachers; and
- running Rise Above, an online resilience building resource, aimed at 11- to 16-year-olds, which provides resources to help young people develop skills to make positive choices for their health, including avoiding drug use.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing their local need for alcohol and drug treatment and commissioning a range of accessible services to meet these needs.
PHE works with local authorities to support them in this vital work, by providing them with data, guidance and other bespoke support to help them tackle health inequalities.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equality of access to (a) alcohol and (b) drug treatments.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) are working with other Government departments to help prevent young people, including those from deprived backgrounds, from developing alcohol and drug problems. This includes supporting investment in programmes which have a positive impact on young people, giving them the confidence, resilience and risk management skills to resist drug use. Examples of this include:
- funding Mentor UK’s Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service which provides practical advice and tools based on the best international evidence, including briefing sheets for teachers; and
- running Rise Above, an online resilience building resource, aimed at 11- to 16-year-olds, which provides resources to help young people develop skills to make positive choices for their health, including avoiding drug use.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing their local need for alcohol and drug treatment and commissioning a range of accessible services to meet these needs.
PHE works with local authorities to support them in this vital work, by providing them with data, guidance and other bespoke support to help them tackle health inequalities.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have discontinued drug and alcohol treatment within (a) three months and (b) six months of starting such treatment in each of the last seven financial years; and what plans his Department has to reduce such discontinuation rates.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England (PHE) publishes national statistics on alcohol and drug treatment.
The numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10 are shown in the following table.
Numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10
Year | Number |
2009-10 | 311,667 |
2010-11 | 309,000 |
2011-12 | 299,565 |
2012-13 | 297,105 |
2013-14 | 301,944 |
2014-15 | 295,224 |
2015-16 | 288,843 |
2016-17 | 279,793 |
Source: Substance misuse treatment for adults: statistics 2016 to 2017 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-and-treatment-in-adults-statistics-2016-to-2017
In 2016-17, nearly 280,000 people received treatment for alcohol and drugs, a decrease of 3% and the largest drop seen over the last six years. This decrease is largely due to the reduction in people starting treatment for alcohol problems only. The numbers of people getting treatment for alcohol has fallen by 12% from a peak of 91,651 in 2013-14.
PHE is assessing the reasons for the fall in alcohol treatment numbers through work with local authorities to look closely at treatment numbers and reasons for changes in the number of people in treatment. Based on this, PHE will be providing advice to local authorities.
Data on numbers of people who have discontinued treatment is not available in the format requested.
PHE is continuing to support local authorities to commission effective, accessible treatment services to meet local need. It does this by providing data, including online management reporting and a new Public Health Dashboard, as well as guidance and other tailored support for local authorities.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been in contact with drug and alcohol services since 2009-10; what assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in the number of people making contact during that time period; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people are able to make contact with drug and alcohol services.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England (PHE) publishes national statistics on alcohol and drug treatment.
The numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10 are shown in the following table.
Numbers of people in contact with alcohol and drug treatment services since 2009-10
Year | Number |
2009-10 | 311,667 |
2010-11 | 309,000 |
2011-12 | 299,565 |
2012-13 | 297,105 |
2013-14 | 301,944 |
2014-15 | 295,224 |
2015-16 | 288,843 |
2016-17 | 279,793 |
Source: Substance misuse treatment for adults: statistics 2016 to 2017 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-and-treatment-in-adults-statistics-2016-to-2017
In 2016-17, nearly 280,000 people received treatment for alcohol and drugs, a decrease of 3% and the largest drop seen over the last six years. This decrease is largely due to the reduction in people starting treatment for alcohol problems only. The numbers of people getting treatment for alcohol has fallen by 12% from a peak of 91,651 in 2013-14.
PHE is assessing the reasons for the fall in alcohol treatment numbers through work with local authorities to look closely at treatment numbers and reasons for changes in the number of people in treatment. Based on this, PHE will be providing advice to local authorities.
Data on numbers of people who have discontinued treatment is not available in the format requested.
PHE is continuing to support local authorities to commission effective, accessible treatment services to meet local need. It does this by providing data, including online management reporting and a new Public Health Dashboard, as well as guidance and other tailored support for local authorities.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many addiction psychiatrists are employed in drug and alcohol addiction treatment services; how many psychiatrists have been employed in those services in each year since 2009-10; what plans his Department has to increase the number of addiction psychiatrists employed in those services; and what plans his Department has to increase the number of training posts in addiction psychiatry.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Local authorities are responsible for assessing the needs of their local population, including people with drug problems, and commissioning services to meet these needs. Needs assessment and commissioning to support people who have co-occurring drug and mental health problems should be done in partnership with local National Health Service mental health trusts which are responsible for local mental health issues. NHS England and Public Health England do not hold any information on how many clinical commissioning groups have addiction workforce strategies.
NHS Digital does not hold information on the number of addiction psychiatrists employed in drug and addiction services.
Health Education England (HEE) is working with the Royal College of Psychiatry (RCPsych) to increase the exposure to psychiatry during doctor training (which can help increase applications for the specialty). HEE has already increased the number of doctors in the Foundation Programme doing a four month psychiatry post to 50%. The RCPsych will complete the review of this expansion with a view to HEE commissioning a further expansion from 2019.
HEE will also look to ensure, from 2019, that all doctors in the Foundation Programme undertake a ‘taster’ two week attachment in psychiatry unless they are doing a four month psychiatry post.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the (a) planned and (b) current expenditure for drug and alcohol treatment services.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Figures on local authority expenditure on public health services, are collected on the Revenue Outturn (RO3) form. The latest figures for 2016-17 are available from:
Budget estimates of local authority expenditure on public health for the financial year April 2018 to March 2019 are available from
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients in (a) England, (b) Greater London and (c) the London Borough of Newham have been treated by the NHS for (i) drug and (ii) alcohol abuse in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The following tables show the number of individuals in contact with specialist treatment services citing problematic drug or alcohol use in England, London and Newham in each year since 2010.
National | Opiate | Non-opiate | Non-opiate and alcohol | Alcohol only | Total | |||||
number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | |
2009-10 | 170,032 | 55% | 24,557 | 8% | 28,992 | 9% | 88,086 | 28% | 311,667 | 100% |
2010-11 | 169,144 | 55% | 23,613 | 8% | 28,223 | 9% | 88,020 | 28% | 309,000 | 100% |
2011-12 | 162,435 | 54% | 22,982 | 8% | 27,732 | 9% | 86,416 | 29% | 299,565 | 100% |
2012-13 | 157,959 | 53% | 23,975 | 8% | 27,627 | 9% | 87,544 | 29% | 297,105 | 100% |
2013-14 | 155,852 | 52% | 25,570 | 8% | 28,871 | 10% | 91,651 | 30% | 301,944 | 100% |
2014-15 | 152,964 | 52% | 25,025 | 8% | 28,128 | 10% | 89,107 | 30% | 295,224 | 100% |
2015-16 | 149,807 | 52% | 25,814 | 9% | 28,187 | 10% | 85,035 | 29% | 288,843 | 100% |
London | Opiate | Non-opiate | Non-opiate and alcohol | Alcohol only | Total | |||||
number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | |
2009-10 | 25,032 | 50% | 5,839 | 12% | 7,412 | 15% | 11,542 | 23% | 49,825 | 100% |
2010-11 | 24,846 | 51% | 5,295 | 11% | 7,278 | 15% | 11,421 | 23% | 48,840 | 100% |
2011-12 | 23,371 | 51% | 4,990 | 11% | 6,601 | 14% | 10,683 | 23% | 45,645 | 100% |
2012-13 | 22,270 | 49% | 5,082 | 11% | 6,590 | 15% | 11,191 | 25% | 45,133 | 100% |
2013-14 | 21,892 | 47% | 5,315 | 11% | 6,893 | 15% | 12,503 | 27% | 46,603 | 100% |
2014-15 | 21,456 | 47% | 5,305 | 12% | 6,401 | 14% | 12,716 | 28% | 45,878 | 100% |
2015-16 | 20,441 | 46% | 5,277 | 12% | 6,117 | 14% | 12,289 | 28% | 44,124 | 100% |
Newham | Opiate | Non-opiate | Non-opiate and alcohol | Alcohol only | Total | |||||
number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | number | % | |
2009-10 | 1,031 | 58% | 166 | 9% | 163 | 9% | 425 | 24% | 1,785 | 100% |
2010-11 | 1,080 | 56% | 194 | 10% | 208 | 11% | 456 | 24% | 1,938 | 100% |
2011-12 | 1,048 | 62% | 134 | 8% | 173 | 10% | 343 | 20% | 1,698 | 100% |
2012-13 | 1,003 | 59% | 111 | 7% | 186 | 11% | 390 | 23% | 1,690 | 100% |
2013-14 | 1,000 | 63% | 127 | 8% | 133 | 8% | 323 | 20% | 1,583 | 100% |
2014-15 | 923 | 63% | 141 | 10% | 104 | 7% | 290 | 20% | 1,458 | 100% |
2015-16 | 867 | 52% | 220 | 13% | 194 | 12% | 390 | 23% | 1,671 | 100% |
The commissioning of drug and alcohol treatment services in England is undertaken by local authorities and the services are provided by a combination of National Health Service or third sector providers.
The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System collects data from drug and alcohol treatment services across England and divides people in treatment into the four substance groups described above.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent on treatment for drug and alcohol addiction in 2016.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department for Communities and Local Government publishes statistics on local authority expenditure and total expenditure for drug and alcohol services in England. Links to the 2015/16 and 2016/17 data are below:
It is important to note that the expenditure on drug and alcohol services from the Public Health Grant may not reflect all the resources that a local authority may have used on drug and alcohol misuse. For example adult social care budgets can be used to help people as part of their recovery from drug and/or alcohol dependency.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which UK drug and alcohol treatment is dependent on EU funding streams; whether such streams will remain open until such time as Article 50 is enacted; and what measures his Department plans to put in place to maintain the level of that funding from the public purse after Article 50 is enacted.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Drug and alcohol treatment services in England are funded by local authorities from the public health grant, which does not include European Union funding streams. Individual drug and alcohol treatment services may have applied for and received EU funding, however this data is not collected centrally.
As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the United Kingdom remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. It will be for the Government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to leave, and set out arrangements for those schemes currently in receipt of EU funds.