Question reference: S6W-05027
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 14 December 2021
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Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 January 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Minister for Drugs Policy on 17 June 2021 about more regular reporting of drug-related deaths by the National Records of Scotland (Official Report, c.57), when the first such report will be published, and how many reports will be published in each year.
Answer
From September 2021 we have introduced quarterly reporting of suspected drug-related deaths, providing far more timely data on the DRD crisis/situation for the first time. This report uses management information from Police Scotland on suspected drug deaths. The second publication of these suspected figures was in December 2021 and covered the period from July to September 2021 ( Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: July to September 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ). The next report will be published in March 2022 and will cover suspected deaths up to the end of December 2021.
We continue to work with Police Scotland, Public Health Scotland and National Records of Scotland to review the surveillance data we have, review quality and determine whether additional information could be published in the future.