Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue guidance on the use and prescription of naloxone.

In relation to the use of naloxone in the community to reverse opiate overdose, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is preparing legislation to support the wider availability of naloxone from October 2015, reflecting the recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Public Health England is preparing guidance for public health commissioners and specialist drug treatment providers; this guidance is expected to be available imminently.

The issue of naloxone supply is also being considered by the independent expert group updating the 2007 drug misuse clinical guidelines. The group may want to publish early, interim guidance ahead of publication of the full updated guidelines in early 2016. The specific details of when and how naloxone is made available in individual areas will be a decision for local public health commissioners, guided by strategies developed by their Directors of Public Health and Health and Wellbeing Boards.