Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 59
59
Accepted in Part
Mandate all police forces to roll out voluntary naloxone provision, including funding and training.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Home Office requires all 43 police forces in England and Wales to roll out the voluntary provision of naloxone by operational officers. Volunteer officers must be provided with adequate training in the carrying and administration of naloxone before they can carry it on duty. The Home Office must provide additional funding to all 43 forces to supply naloxone and to support the training of officers on the administration of naloxone. The Home Office must also work with policing and health partners to devise guidance on the carrying and administration of naloxone for operational police officers. All 43 police forces must record when its officers have administered naloxone, and the surrounding circumstances, in order to better understand the use of the treatment in emergency situations. (Paragraph 208) Criminal justice-led harm reduction
Government response summary AI-generated
The government partially accepted, rejecting the requirement for mandatory rollout by all police forces, stating it's an operational decision for Chief Constables. However, the Home Office is supporting the NPCC in addressing barriers and developing national guidance for police officers carrying naloxone.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
The Government partially accepts this recommendation. As outlined in the Drug Strategy, the Government continues to support a range of evidence-based approaches to reduce the health-related harms of drug misuse, such as widening the availability of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths. We have increased the availability of naloxone, including naloxone nasal spray to prevent drug-related deaths and have committed to supporting local provision of a broader range of medicines including newer medicines such as long-acting buprenorphine injection. The decision to carry naloxone is an independent operational decision for Chief Constables and currently 18 of 43 forces carry naloxone. The National Police Chief’s Council, with support from the Home Office and OHID, is working to address the barriers presented to police forces on the carriage of naloxone, this includes developing a national guidance and cooperating with the Independent Office of Police Conduct and the Police Federation. Criminal justice-led harm reduction We support the use of diversion schemes for low-level offences. The use of such schemes by police forces in England and Wales is increasing and we welcome the efforts of those forces in rolling out these schemes. However, we are concerned that the use and substance of diversion schemes can vary across police forces. This can result in the criminal justice system responding differently to individuals for suspected drug- related offences. This postcode lottery is wholly unfair. It is time that a more coordinated, national approach is adopted.
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