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- Darlington Borough Council will receive £1,572,227 to combat drug and alcohol misuse over the next two years
- Funding will boost services for people addicted to drugs and alcohol, helping to cut crime
- It builds on government’s ambitions in the 10-year drug strategy to deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system, and reduce drug use to a 30-year low
Local authorities across England will receive a total of an extra £421 million government funding over the next two years to improve drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, the government announced today (16 February 2023).
The extra funding means that total local authority funding for treatment will have increased 40% between 2020/21 and 2024/25. It will enable the creation of over 50,000 high-quality places in drug and alcohol treatment.
The funding will enable local authorities to recruit more staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems, support more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services, and invest in enhancing the quality of treatment they provide. More people will benefit from residential rehabilitation or inpatient detoxification, while improvements to the recovery services will sustain them outside of treatment – helping to reduce relapse rates.
151 local authorities across England are being allocated funding to increase the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The funding includes £154.3 million for 2023/2024, and indicative funding of £266.7 million for 2024/2025.
The government’s drug strategy, published in December 2021, set out the ambition to significantly increase the capacity of treatment and recovery services. It is estimated that over the first three years of the strategy, the additional investment in treatment and recovery will prevent nearly 1,000 drug-related deaths.
Peter Gibson MP said:
“The funding announced today builds on existing work already being done here in Darlington. This additional funding will help support more investment in local services, which will help break the cycle of addiction, support communities and will drive down crime, preventing addiction at an earlier stage.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:
“Drug misuse has a massive cost to society – more than 3,000 people died as a result of drug misuse in 2021.
“This investment in treatment and recovery services is crucial to provide people with high-quality support, with services such expanding access to life-saving overdose medicines and outreach to young people at risk of drug misuse already helping to reduce harm and improve recovery.
“This funding will help us build a world-class treatment and recovery service which will continue to save lives, improve the health and wellbeing of millions of people, and reduce pressure on the NHS by diverting people from addiction into recovery.”
Health Minister Neil O’Brien said:
“Addictions drive about half of all theft, burglary and robbery, so boosting treatment for addicts will help cut crime.”
“This funding will help improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol recovery services right across the country, helping more people access the support they need, saving lives and benefitting communities.”