Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Misuse

Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 24 April 2026.

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Photo of Vicky Foxcroft Vicky Foxcroft Labour, Lewisham North

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of drug and alcohol addiction treatment services in a) Lewisham North Constituency, b) London and c) England.

Photo of Sharon Hodgson Sharon Hodgson The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. As a condition of the Public Health Grant, local authorities are responsible for improving the uptake of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery.

The Department delivers a robust monitoring and assurance programme, and quality improvement interventions, for local authorities commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services. The number of adults in treatment is now the highest since reporting began, with the latest annual statistics showing that between April 2024 and March 2025 there were 329,646 adults aged 18 years old and over in contact with community drug and alcohol treatment services. Of this total, in London there were 45,873 adults in treatment, 9% higher than the previous year, and in Lewisham there were 1,910, 28% higher than the previous year.

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Secretary of State

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constituency

In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent