South Shropshire MP Philip Dunne welcomes grant to Shropshire Council of £1 million in extra funding to combat drug and alcohol misuse over the next two years. 

This funding will help to improve services for people addicted to drugs and alcohol and will contribute to curbing related crime.

This funding builds on the Government’s ambition in the next 10 years to deliver a state-of-the-art treatment and recovery service for those struggling with addictions – whilst helping to deliver and reduce drug use to an all-time 30-year low.

The extra funding means Shropshire Council has seen a 22% boost in funding to provide services, taking the overall committed spending to £3.3 million until 2024/25. The overall national funding will enable the creation of over 50,000 high-quality places for drug and alcohol treatment.

Funding will also enable the local authority to hire more staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems, support more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services, and invest in enhancing the quality of treatment they provide. More people will benefit from residential rehabilitation or inpatient detoxification, while improvements to the recovery services will sustain them outside of treatment – helping to reduce relapse rates.

Philip Dunne said:

“Drug and alcohol misuse has a massive impact on the wider community including families of those suffering from addiction. Staggeringly we see more than 3,000 people pass away each year due to misuse.

“This funding locally in Shropshire will provide life changing recovery services. These are crucial for rehab and will provide a high quality setting where those who struggle with addiction can be provided with specialised staff trained to deal with addiction.

“Many other countries on the continent have much lower rates of relapse credited to their treatment and recovery services. Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction to helping get people’s lives back on track. This in turn will reduce the pressure on the NHS in helping those suffering with addiction, who often attend A & E. 

“This will also help drive down crime, where about half of thefts, burglaries, and robberies, are related to addiction.”