Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Accepted
Additional funding aims to reintroduce health professionals, yet stable funding is crucial for specialist staff.
Conclusion
The Department assured us that, as part of its monitoring activity, it would be looking closely at the numbers of people employed. We heard it was keen that the additional funding (£533 million) serve to reintroduce health professionals into treatment services, including clinical psychiatrists and mental health practitioners. The Department said that it had agreed a set of plans with local authorities and thought it had good visibility on performance which it said should give it confidence.58 Ms Taylor told us the extra funding was helpful but cautioned that it was difficult to build up specialist staff without stable funding.59 56 Qq 27, 106, 125–127 57 Q 127 58 Q 103 59 Qq 11, 103, 106, 125 Alcohol treatment services 17
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and is developing a substance misuse workforce strategic plan, a national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery capability framework, and a workforce calculator, all to be published by Autumn 2023, in addition to supporting local authorities with workforce planning.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2023 6.2 The department is working with NHS Workforce Transformation and Education (NHS WT&E) to develop a substance misuse workforce strategic plan, with a target publication date of Autumn 2023. The department and NHS WT&E are also developing phase 1 of the national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery capability framework and a workforce calculator, both of which will be published in Autumn 2023. 6.3 The department continues to support local authorities to improve the capacity and quality of their workforce, including the provision of workforce planning guidance in March 2023, as well as detailed workforce analysis, to ensure their plans meet the ambitions of the drug strategy.