Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce alcohol related deaths in South Yorkshire.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and harm reduction services to meet these needs. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities in this work by providing data, guidance and advice.

PHE’s Yorkshire and Humber Centre has a work programme focused on addressing alcohol and drug-related harm in South Yorkshire. This programme includes:

- helping local areas, such as Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, plan and improve their local alcohol systems, services and interventions to reduce alcohol harm using the CLeaR (Challenge services, Leadership, and Results) evidence-based approach;

- supporting local areas to develop new specifications for their alcohol and drug treatment systems by providing advice, guidance and evidence to ensure that prevention, treatment and support is of consistent quality;

- supporting local areas, such as Barnsley, to develop their drug-related deaths processes in line with recent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommendations;

- convening a homelessness and rough sleeping roundtable to bring partners together from across the region to share best practice; and

- supporting the formation and ongoing activities of Alcohol Alliances, which are local strategic partnership boards aimed at tackling the burden of alcohol harms on individuals and communities in Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham.