Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the availability of Buvidal.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol services according to local need, and this includes the provision of buprenorphine long-acting injections, including Buvidal. The Department funds local authorities to deliver drug and alcohol treatment services through the Public Health Grant and the additional Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery grant. Through the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery grant, the Department allocated local authorities an additional £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. Funding for 2025/26 will be announced very shortly.

The Department has advised local areas that they are able to use these funding sources to enable the prescribing of buprenorphine long-acting injections in their areas, and advises and supports local areas to establish, maintain, and grow this provision. The Department promotes sharing and learning between local authorities and is working on additional clinical guidance which will be published later this year.

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, including in County Durham and Easington, and including for those who have been released from prison. The Government has no current plans to ring fence funding specifically for the provision of Buvidal and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has not held discussions with Cabinet colleagues specifically on this issue and the provision of Buvidal for prisoners.