Drug deaths in England rise by 80% in 10 years as local services cut back to the bone, MPs warn

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MPs have issued a stark warning about the affect of cuts to local authorities as drug-related deaths declare practically 3,000 lives throughout England yearly.

The Public Accounts Committee has known as for assured funding in order that councils can guarantee they’ve the assets mandatory to deal with the scourge of unlawful drug-related deaths, which have risen by 80 per cent between 2011 and 2021.

Drug use amongst younger individuals stays excessive, with 19 per cent of 16-24 yr olds reporting having taken medication in 2022. Despite this, there was a pointy lower in the variety of younger individuals receiving therapy – falling 50 per cent between 2010-11 and 2021-22.

The committee, made up of cross-party MPs and chaired by Meg Hillier, says annual spending on drug and alcohol therapy services has fallen by 40 per cent in actual phrases between 2014-15 and 2021-22.

Funding allotted back in 2021 by the authorities to deal with drug use has solely been dedicated till 2024-25, making a stage of uncertainty that has made it troublesome for local authorities to recruit workers and rebuild the workforce.

The alarming report comes simply days after ministers had been warned by a separate parliamentary committee that English councils want £4bn to stop widespread chapter, as eight English councils have declared themselves bankrupt since 2018, together with 4 in the previous 12 months alone.

Councils are liable for a variety of services in the local space, together with social care, faculties, housing, planning, kids’s services, group security, and drug and alcohol services, amongst others.

However, many local councils are actually in dire straits, as 90 per cent of local authorities have lowered monetary reserves and 26 councils alone are vulnerable to chapter over the subsequent two years.

Now the PAC has warned that medication and alcohol prevention services are additionally being impacted by the dwindling reserve as the the hurt triggered by unlawful medication grows.

Ms Hillier mentioned: “Our committee is having to remind government that local authorities need long-term certainty to carry out what is some of the most challenging treatment there is to provide.

“Some progress has been made, in particular in recruiting 1,200 new alcohol and drug workers and bearing down on county lines drugs supply.

“But deaths continue to rise, drug use showed no reduction in the last 10 years, and the harm caused by illegal drugs is growing.”

The authorities launched its 10-year drug technique back in 2021 in response to an unbiased evaluation of medication led by Dame Carol Black.

Dame Carol’s evaluation in 2020 discovered that drug deaths in 2018 had been the highest on document and that local authorities funding cuts had severely curtailed the effectiveness of therapy applications.

She additionally emphasised that drug use prices the UK financial system £20bn a yr, but solely £600m was spent on drug prevention measures.

Dame Carol concluded that “the amount of unmet need is growing”, therapy services had been disappearing and the therapy workforce was declining in quantity and high quality.

“Ultimately, we need to transform our approach to treatment, investing in it but also innovating so that treatment services are able to respond to today’s drugs market and future developments,” she mentioned.

The authorities accepted the findings and launched a 10-year plan – investing £780m to rebuild drug therapy and restoration services.

Commenting on the PAC report, David Fothergill, chair of the Local Government Association’s group wellbeing board mentioned councils are dedicated to guaranteeing susceptible individuals with substance misuse issues get the proper help and “have a proud record of helping to transform the lives of people living with addiction”.

He added: “However, as this report recognises, these services need greater and more long-term funding certainty from the government if they are to deliver the life-changing benefits we know they can.”

Ms Hillier mentioned it was time for the authorities to “dig deep” and “prove that it is serious about delivering the long-term change implicit in its own strategy”.

Robin Pollard, from dependancy charity We Are With You, mentioned the organisation welcomed the name for “sustained long-term investment” and a “focus on the specific needs of people who use drugs but are underserved by current services, such as women and young people”.

“There are no quick fixes to decades of underinvestment,” he mentioned. Investment can not simply be for 3 years however should be sustained for the period of the 10-year medication technique.

“Failure to commit sustainable long-term funding after 2025 will lead to many of the improvements that we are currently seeing being lost.”

The Home Office has been approached for remark.