Recommendation 26

HM Government Not Addressed

The Government accepts these recommendations. The Drug Strategy acknowledges that some groups face greater barriers to accessing treatment and recovery support than others. These include women, people from ethnic minority groups, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and people from the LGBTQ+ community. The Government is committed to taking action to remove these barriers, so that everyone who needs it can access high-quality drug treatment and recovery support. Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDPs) have a crucial role to play in tackling drug-related harm at a local level, and they are responsible for assessing local need and designing their local treatment and recovery systems to respond to this, including by identifying barriers to access. The Drug Strategy makes clear that CDPs should include people affected by drug-related harm to help reduce barriers to treatment and recovery. OHID has established national and regional networks to promote sharing of good practice between CDPs on identifying and responding to barriers faced by specific population groups, including women and people from ethnic minority groups. A key priority for the Government is to strengthen the voice of lived experience in the national oversight and delivery of the Drug Strategy. OHID has developed a lived experience framework and has funded two national lived experience partner organisations, Collective Voice and Recovery Connections, to strengthen lived experience engagement at both national and local levels. In particular, we are continuing to work with these organisations to embed lived experience across: • the Combating Drugs Minister’s bi-monthly expert advisory group to inform policy and strategy, • the Department for Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) national commissioning group for drug and alcohol treatment, • the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) advisory group for drug and alcohol treatment, • OHID’s national learning and good practice events for the drug and alcohol treatment sector, and • OHID’s work on stigma in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. We are also working across government to promote lived experience engagement. For example, OHID supports the Ministry of Justice’s co-produced advisory group for people with lived experience of the criminal justice system to ensure that the voices of those affected by drug-related harm are heard across policy development. OHID also directly engages with people with lived experience through its regular ‘Tea & Talk’ sessions, where people with lived experience can share their views directly with OHID officials. The Government continues to collect and analyse data on drug treatment, including specific data on women and people from ethnic minority groups, in order to track progress against the Drug Strategy’s ambitions. For example, OHID has recently published a report setting out progress made on improving access to drug and alcohol treatment for women. The Government also supports the development of national and local services tailored to the needs of specific groups. For example, OHID has provided guidance and support to local areas on developing needs-led services for women, and in July 2023, the Government launched a £53 million programme to expand treatment provision for people experiencing homelessness. The Government also recently published a call for evidence on drug use in ethnic minority groups. The findings from this will be used to inform future policy development to improve access to treatment and recovery support. The Government works closely with the devolved administrations to share data, intelligence and good practice around tackling drug-related harm, including identifying and removing barriers to treatment and recovery for particular population groups. This work is underpinned by a formal structure which brings together ministers and senior officials from across the UK.