Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2021 to Question 14127, on Drugs: Misuse, what criterion the Home Office Accounting Officer uses to assess the value for money of her Department's drugs misuse programmes.

All major investments and proposals for funding go through economic appraisal which is conducted in line with Green Book guidance. This is guidance issued by HM Treasury on how to appraise policies, programmes and projects, as well as the design and use of monitoring and evaluation throughout implementation. For major Home Office investments these appraisals are reviewed by the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC) which involves sign off by the Home Office Chief Analyst/HOAI Director. Where relevant evaluations already exist these are used, as well as existing management information, to form the basis of economic appraisal for new investments.

Programmes being delivered as part of the Government’s whole-system response to tackling drug misuse, including investment to disrupt drug supply and county lines, drug treatment and Project ADDER (Addiction, Disruption, Diversion, Enforcement and Recovery) have been subject to this approach. We will continue to monitor and evaluate our drug misuse programmes across Government to learn what is most effective and inform future spending decisions.