17 January 2022
The Scottish Government has announced new funding for each of the next three years in response to the recommendations of The Drug Deaths Task Force which made its final report in July.
The announcement was made in a statement to Parliament by Angela Constance, Minister for Drugs Policy on Thursday. Amongst the spending promised is an investment of £1.4 million over three years in Scottish Drugs Forum’s Addiction Worker Training Project. This will double the capacity of the current programme and has been welcomed by SDF’s CEO Dave Liddell.
‘We are delighted with this investment in a proven model that delivers for people with their own experience of problem drug substance use. The programme combines work experience, training and support and offers a wage to participants. This combination has attracted people to take part and the same elements and the huge resource of potential, skills and talent, that is nurtured through the programme, has attracted support through the provision of work placements and eventually in the offer of employment by service providers across the drugs and wider care field. The programme helps address some of the serious recruitment and retention issues currently affecting the substance use treatment and support and other services in Scotland.’
The largest single investment was in the development of service provision in primary care which receives £30 million. Dave welcomed this and other funding, ‘this is significant investment that will help deliver the MAT Standards and will help shift the balance of treatment from specialist services to mainstream services. Where this is appropriate and wanted by the person in treatment, it should be available. Greater involvement by primary care should also help improve people’s access to physical health care. Also of particular note is the investment in stabilisation service capacity and placements in these residential services. It is crucial that we have these available locally for people seeking to stabilise their lives and deal with some of the underlying issues that cause that instability.’
Table: Specific funding for projects outlined in the Cross Government plan (£millions)
