Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Not Addressed
Ensure long-term funding for drug treatment services with three-year cycles and ringfenced grants.
Recommendation
We are concerned about the long-term sustainability and security of funding for the drug treatment and recovery sector. (Paragraph 74) a) We welcome the Government’s latest funding announcement, which provides funding in England over a two year period. However, we question whether this is a sufficient length of time for service providers to utilise the funding to embed change.We recommend that the UK Government provide funding throughout the 10 year lifespan of the strategy in three year cycles. b) In relation to the public health grant in England, we recommend that the Government go further than placing a condition on local authorities to have regard to drug and alcohol treatment by requiring local authorities to ringfence funding allocated under the public health grant for these services. c) We recommend that the Government give service providers a minimum of three months’ notice of forthcoming funding allocations under the strategy and public health grant to enable them time to plan appropriately.
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Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Government does not accept this recommendation. It is not possible to commit to providing funding for any longer than the current Spending Review (SR) period. HM Treasury carries out SRs to determine how to spend public money, usually over a multi-year period, in line with the government’s priorities. However, there is no typical length for an SR – previous SRs have allocated budgets for single years or multiple years. Several factors are taken into consideration when considering the length of time an SR sets budgets for. These include the economy, government priorities, the long-term national interest and the length of the Parliament. For example, the 2020 SR only set budgets for one year as a consequence of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall amount of spending available is informed by the wider fiscal position. The money the government spends is reviewed to ensure future funding continues to be efficient and cost-effective. Despite the SR not allocating budgets for a longer period of time, we continuously conduct work to assess longer-term priorities, investment plans and pressures, as part of usual business planning to support decision making.
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