Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of his Department’s transfer of the pooled treatment budget to the Public Health Grant in 2013 on the adequacy of funding for drug addiction treatments.

No assessment had been made. Local authorities will receive over £3 billion in 2019/20 ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health. Our priority is to make sure the system continues to support high quality public health services and outcomes. Local authorities are best placed to make spending decisions based on the needs of their communities.