Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the scale of nitazene-related deaths in the next 10 years, and what steps they are taking to measure the occurrence of nitazene overdoses; and whether they plan to publish data on those overdoses.

The number of drug related overdoses and deaths remains too high. We are committed to saving lives, including with access to high-quality treatment. A continued focus on drugs and drug-related harms is key to addressing the problem and helping deliver the Government’s Safer Streets and Health Missions.

The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone, a life-saving opioid overdose reversal medication. The legislation means more services and professionals are able to supply this medication, which in turn means easier access to it for people at risk, and for their loved ones.

In 2025/26, the Department is providing £310 million, additional to the Public Health Grant, to deliver the recommendations from Dame Carol Black’s independent review. We are working on announcing multi-year funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment from 2026/27.

The Department works with local authorities to improve drug and alcohol treatment and provides monitoring, data, guidance, and targeted support. The Commissioning Quality Standard, which is available in an online only format on the GOV.UK website, provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services.

In line with standard risk assessment processes, the Government is undertaking work to estimate the potential future scale of mortality linked to synthetic opioids, including nitazenes. The Department is working with other Government departments on enhancing surveillance and early warning in response to the threat of synthetic opioids. As part of this we have established new data streams, including collecting information on deaths linked to nitazenes through laboratory testing and ambulance callouts in which the opioid antidote naloxone was administered. The first quarterly report of data from these sources is expected to be published this summer. An ad hoc report on deaths linked to synthetic opioids was published last year.

For these reasons, the Government currently has no plans to develop a new drugs strategy.