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 impact of short-term funding grants on the ability of drug treatment services to (a) provide long term care and (b) retain staff.

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for greater certainty regarding funding and the ability to set clear budgets.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and for commissioning services to meet these needs. It is also the responsibility of local authorities to set the length of the contracts with services.

To better support upper tier and unitary local authorities’ vital public health work, from 2026/27 we will bring together over £4 billion of public health funding for local government, by consolidating service specific grants into the Public Health Grant. It is our intention to publish indicative Public Health Grant funding alongside the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year, with final multi-year local authority Public Health Grant allocations published early in the new year. This will give local authorities more advanced notice of their total funding allocations, further empowering them to plan more effectively and better manage their services.

Alongside the funding allocations, the Department and NHS England have also published a 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, from 2024 to 2034, which is the first national workforce plan for this specialist part of the health workforce in England and outlines key milestones to grow, train, and develop staff.