The data requested is not yet available. Data on alcohol-related hospitalisations by local authority for 2022/23 is due to be published in February 2024.

The latest available year of data is 2021/22 and is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/local-alcohol-profiles

We are continuing to invest in the rollout of Alcohol Care Teams to the 25% of eligible hospital sites with the highest rates of deprivation and alcohol-related mortality, as committed to in the NHS Long Term Plan. At the end of March 2023, 31 out of 47 sites reported that they were optimally staffed, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan commitments.

Initial modelling for the NHS Long Term Plan was based on the case study carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and estimated that Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs) would prevent 50,000 admissions over 5 years. A copy of the case study is available at the following link:

https://www.bsg.org.uk/clinical-resource/alcohol-care-teams-reducing-acute-hospital-admissions-and-improving-quality-of-care/

Impact of ACTs will be assessed through proACTIVE, a cost-effectiveness evaluation funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and led by the research collaborative, which is due to report in 2024. More information about the evaluation is available at the following link:

https://www.hull.ac.uk/work-with-us/research/institutes/health-trials/study/proactive

No assessment has been made.

No specific assessment has been made.

The Independent Review of Drugs led by Dame Carol Black highlighted the challenges people using drugs experience in accessing mental and physical health treatment and made a number of recommendations to improve this. The Government’s 10-year drug strategy is the formal, substantive response to the Independent Review of Drugs and accepts all its main recommendations, including the recommendations to improve the provision of high-quality mental and physical healthcare treatment for people with substance misuse conditions.

The Department does not collect data on levels of dependence on and treatment for dependence on prescribed drugs. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a range of evidence-based guidance that includes recommendations for the National Health Service on the use of benzodiazepines, z drugs and anti-depressants based on an assessment of their benefits and longer-term health impacts. The guidance ‘Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults’ which is available at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng215

The Department has no current plans to assess the publication’s effectiveness of ‘Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: Framework for action for integrated care boards (ICBs) and primary care’.

The Department does not collect data on levels of dependence on and treatment for dependence on prescribed drugs. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a range of evidence-based guidance that includes recommendations for the National Health Service on the use of benzodiazepines, z drugs and anti-depressants based on an assessment of their benefits and longer-term health impacts. The guidance ‘Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults’ which is available at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng215

The Department has no current plans to assess the publication’s effectiveness of ‘Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: Framework for action for integrated care boards (ICBs) and primary care’.

The Department does not collect data on levels of dependence on and treatment for dependence on prescribed drugs. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a range of evidence-based guidance that includes recommendations for the National Health Service on the use of benzodiazepines, z drugs and anti-depressants based on an assessment of their benefits and longer-term health impacts. The guidance ‘Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults’ which is available at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng215

The Department has no current plans to assess the publication’s effectiveness of ‘Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: Framework for action for integrated care boards (ICBs) and primary care’.

In December 2021, the Government published a 10-year drug strategy which committed an additional £532 million of funding over three years for drug and alcohol treatment services. Evaluations assessing the delivery, impact, and value for money of the overall investment as well as specific treatment and recovery programmes will be completed by Autumn 2025.

There are no current plans to develop a standalone alcohol dependency prevention and recovery strategy. The Government has already set out measures to reduce and prevent alcohol harm through the green paper ‘Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s’ and the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Government published its 10-year Drug Strategy in December 2021. While the focus of the strategy is drugs, commissioning and delivery of drug and alcohol treatment services are integrated in England. This means that implementation of the strategy will also benefit people seeking alcohol treatment through mechanisms such as new commissioning standards, and new investment to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has a surveillance system that collects information related to people who have recently acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and asks questions in relation to recent sexual behaviour, including chemsex. Further interviews and analyses are underway. The report will be published in 2024. We do not hold data on the number of HIV transmissions linked to chemsex in each of the last five years.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning substance misuse and sexual health services to meet local need. The Government has previously issued guidance for commissioners and providers of drug and alcohol services on meeting the physical and mental health needs of people who engage in Chemsex, this is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/substance-misuse-services-for-men-involved-in-chemsex

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities continues to support local areas to implement this guidance and to share good practice. Additionally, information on the risks of taking drugs associated with chemsex is available on the Government’s drug information service FRANK which signposts sources of support and advice.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning substance misuse and sexual health services to meet local need. The Government has previously issued guidance for commissioners and providers of drug and alcohol services on meeting the physical and mental health needs of people who engage in Chemsex, this is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/substance-misuse-services-for-men-involved-in-chemsex

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities continues to support local areas to implement this guidance and to share good practice. Additionally, information on the risks of taking drugs associated with chemsex is available on the Government’s drug information service FRANK which signposts sources of support and advice.

The Government maintains an interest in the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland and looks forward to seeing the findings from the final evaluation. We will consider those findings in detail once available.

To support the aims of its 10-year drug strategy, the Government is providing £532 million of additional funding to local authorities to increase provision and to improve the quality of substance misuse services.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services to meet the needs of their population, this includes any treatment that may be required for nitrous oxide.

As the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care who has policy responsibility for drug and alcohol treatment services at the Department, I have been engaged with Cabinet colleagues on the development of the Anti-Social Behaviour plan.

The Department of funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including recreational drugs, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. In September 2022, the Department and the Joint Combating Drugs Unit, in partnership with NIHR, launched a £5 million innovation fund to reduce demand for illicit substances. The fund will be run in three phases, phase one will focus on the development of potential interventions, phase two on testing and evaluation of these interventions, and phase three on scale up of interventions that are evaluated as effective in phase two.

On 8 March 2023 the Department announced £734,000 funding to support five projects through phase one.

From March 2020, NHS England has funded a phased roll out of optimally staffed Alcohol Care Teams in 25% of hospital sites located in areas of highest need in England, 47 out of 189 hospitals. All of these services are now in delivery with 22 out of 47 services optimally staffed.