Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists entitled Co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, published on 13 May 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting more cohesive and joined-up care between mental health services and substance use services, to ensure people no longer fall through the gaps of treatment.
We know that, between 2023 and 2024, 72% of people starting drug and alcohol treatment also had a mental health treatment need. Furthermore, approximately 30 to 50% of people with serious mental illness have co-existing drug or alcohol use conditions. However, as the Royal College of Psychiatry’s report highlights, too often, people with co-occurring substance use and mental health needs do not receive the joined up, person-centred care they require and deserve.
In response to this, the Department and NHS England are finalising the Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Action Plan. In developing this plan, NHS England and the Department have worked with subject matter experts, including people with lived experience, academics, clinicians, and service providers, to set out a path to improving service provision for those with co-occurring substance use and mental health needs.
The action plan will build on current structures and initiatives such the Commissioning Quality Standard published in 2022. This standard provides guidance for drug and alcohol treatment commissioners on improving services for people with co-occurring mental health and alcohol or drug conditions and how local services need to work together so that people can access the help they need.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 41044 on Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment, whether there is funding remaining for hospital trusts wishing to submit late applications for radiotherapy equipment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The bidding round has been completed and there are no plans to accept further applications.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 47191 on Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment, if he will ensure that trusts outside of (a) London and (b) the South East are prioritised for future funding (i) to replace radiotherapy equipment and (ii) for additional radiotherapy treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England wrote to all radiotherapy treatment providers, including those outside of London and the South East, inviting them to apply for funding to replace ageing radiotherapy machines.
To help to address accessibility to radiotherapy, the Department has allocated £70 million in funding for 28 new radiotherapy machines to trusts across the country to replace outdated machines, 18 of which are located outside of London and the South East of England.
All future spending commitments beyond 2025/26 will be determined through the next phase of the Spending Review process, which will conclude in June.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 41043 on Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment, what his Department's process of advertising the funding applications to NHS foundation trusts was.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2024, NHS England wrote to all radiotherapy treatment providers inviting them to apply for funding to replace ageing radiotherapy machines.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant will be allocated to (a) inpatient detoxification, (b) housing support, (c) rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment and (d) supplemental substance misuse and recovery elements in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant (DATRIG), the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted funding to improve drug and alcohol services and recovery support.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services to meet local need. Further details are available at the following link:
For 2025/26, the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant (RSDATG) component of the DATRIG was published separately. £58.7 million is being provided through this component to support people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough with drug and alcohol treatment needs. Further information can be found at the following link:
Due to there being some local authority flexibility around DATRIG spend, the previously separate grant components, other than the RSDATG element, have not been published.
The DATRIG is new for this financial year. Before 2025/26, the RSDATG was a standalone grant, and up to £186.5 million was available between 2022 and 2025 to fund targeted drug and alcohol treatment services and support for the rough sleeping population in 83 local authorities and via five pan-London projects. Up to £75 million was available for the RSDATG programme between 2020 and 2022.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant was allocated to rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant (DATRIG), the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted funding to improve drug and alcohol services and recovery support.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services to meet local need. Further details are available at the following link:
For 2025/26, the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant (RSDATG) component of the DATRIG was published separately. £58.7 million is being provided through this component to support people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough with drug and alcohol treatment needs. Further information can be found at the following link:
Due to there being some local authority flexibility around DATRIG spend, the previously separate grant components, other than the RSDATG element, have not been published.
The DATRIG is new for this financial year. Before 2025/26, the RSDATG was a standalone grant, and up to £186.5 million was available between 2022 and 2025 to fund targeted drug and alcohol treatment services and support for the rough sleeping population in 83 local authorities and via five pan-London projects. Up to £75 million was available for the RSDATG programme between 2020 and 2022.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 41043, what the criteria was for these funding awards to NHS foundation trusts.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding was allocated to trusts using criteria that NHS England developed. These criteria focused on the age of the machine being replaced, the proportion of older machines in use within the trust, and the trust’s performance on radiotherapy.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 41044, what was the criteria for the award of this funding to NHS foundation trusts.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, we prioritised funding for a small number of trusts to replace the most aged radiotherapy equipment. Funding was allocated based on the age of the equipment to be replaced, replacement machine availability, and the trust’s ability to take delivery and pay for the equipment by 31 March 25.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the most recent new NHS radiotherapy centre was built that was not linked to the closure of an existing centre in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect information as to why new radiotherapy centres were built, and what links may exist with closures of radiotherapy centres. This is because decisions about radiotherapy treatment are made at local level.
However, the most recent NHS radiotherapy centre in England that opened was the Oxford University Hospitals Radiotherapy Centre in Milton Keynes which opened to patients in January 2025. The most recent radiotherapy centre to open in the North East of England is at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough, which opened in May 2012.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2025 to Question 31856 on Buprenorphine, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of ensuring Buvidal is made available on release from prison to all people who have received Buvidal whilst in prison.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice have discussed the issue. The Department of Health and Social Care advises local areas that they can use the funding given to them to deliver drug and alcohol treatment to enable prescribing of buprenorphine long-acting injection in their areas, and advises and supports local areas to establish, maintain and grow this provision and this includes for those who leave prison.
It is a clinical decision whether to offer this treatment, based on an individual assessment and personal choice. Buvidal is available in all regions in England; the following table shows its availability in community structured treatment as a proportion of the overall population in treatment for opiate use, broken down by region, for the fourth quarter of 2023/24, the latest period for which data is available:
Region | Adults in treatment for opiates | Buprenorphine long lasting injection | Buprenorphine long lasting injection (%) |
East Midlands | 11619 | 184 | 1.58% |
East of England | 10886 | 226 | 2.08% |
London | 17630 | 686 | 3.89% |
North East | 10121 | 329 | 3.25% |
North West | 24116 | 939 | 3.89% |
South East | 14485 | 282 | 1.95% |
South West | 13371 | 288 | 2.15% |
West Midlands | 16666 | 342 | 2.05% |
Yorkshire & the Humber | 18355 | 529 | 2.88% |
England | 137249 | 3805 | 2.77% |
Source: National Drug Treatment Monitoring System March 2024