Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for providing and commissioning health services to meet the health care needs of their local populations. It also for PCTs to consider the effectiveness of services commissioned. This includes the provision of drug and alcohol rehabilitation services.
The Department and the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) provide advice, guidance and data to help PCTs better understand their local drug and alcohol service needs. Local drug commissioning partnerships are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services from national health service and voluntary sector organisations, and all partnerships will produce local drug treatment plans that set out how they plan to improve the delivery of drug treatment locally. The NTA's regional teams will monitor the performance of partnerships and the services they commission by measuring performance against locally set targets, which are set out in treatment plans.
The NTA's north-west regional team assesses the performance of the Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team, and the drug services it commissions, on an annual and ongoing basis.
(2) how much funding his Department made available to primary care trusts for drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in the latest period for which figures are available.
Direct central Government funding for drug treatment through the pooled treatment budget in 2010-11 is £406.7 million. In addition, an estimated £200 million is spent locally by primary care trusts on adult drug services.
No decision has been taken regarding future Government funding for drug services.
The cost of alcohol treatment is met through national health service mainstream expenditure according to local needs and priorities.
Residential rehabilitation is funded by local authority social services through their Community Care Act responsibilities.
Decisions on future funding for alcohol treatment will be made at a local level in line with local needs.
Criteria for entry to drug and alcohol treatment programmes are determined at a local level between treatment providers and commissioners.
The Department of Health, National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have issued commissioning guidance and effectiveness reviews to assist providers and commissioners in this process.