Question reference: S6W-26421
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 26 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to drug (a) prevention, (b) treatment and (c) harm reduction initiatives for the financial year 2024-25, and what its position is on whether these resources will be adequate to tackle the reported 10% increase in suspected drug deaths in 2023.
Answer
Full budget allocations for 2024-25 are still to be confirmed.
It is not possible to disaggregate the full budget by these themes as Alcohol and Drug Partnerships receive around three quarters of the total drugs and alcohol budget to distribute at the local level. At a national level, many of the projects and organisations also support all three areas. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.
The National Mission funding has brought about major reform and improvement in services for people with drug and alcohol problems including:
- Continuing to widen the access to life-saving Naloxone with an estimated 7 in 10 people at risk having a kit; Police Scotland completing roll out amongst frontline staff.
- Continuing to drive implementation of the MAT Standards across the country. All delivery partners have returned implementation plans and report on progress on either a monthly or quarterly basis.
- A whole systems approach to prevention.