Drugs: Rehabilitation

The Department is focused on supporting local areas to deliver high quality drug and alcohol treatment services, including better meeting the needs of women and vulnerable groups. Current work in relation to women and vulnerable groups includes: providing targeted support to local areas; enhancing data tools to better inform local needs assessments; supporting workforce development; and implementation of the Commissioning Quality Standard and the sharing of good practice. The quality standard provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas and includes a requirement that local authority commissioning partnerships include services that reflect their local populations and work with underrepresented groups, as identified in their local needs assessment, such as people from minority ethnic groups and women. Further information on the Commissioning Quality Standard is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services

In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. This funding will help improve women’s access to treatment, removing barriers they face and ensuring the care they receive is tailored to their needs.