Recommendation 19

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.