HC Deb 21 July 1989 vol 157 cc385-6W
Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much was spent on the treatment of(a) alcohol abuse and (b) drug abuse in each of the past seven years.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

Services within the NHS for alcohol misusers and drug misusers are generally provided as part of the range of community and hospital-based services. The cost of treatment in these particular areas is not separately identified. The Government have made substantial increases in resources available to health boards since 1979 and it is for individual boards to determine the level of expenditure on particular services from within their overall financial allocations.

In addition, in 1984 the Government set up a programme of grant support for a range of local drug projects run by health boards, local authorities and voluntary bodies. The size of this programme has steadily increased and in 1989–90 it is running at approximately £2 million per annum, double the figure for 1988–89.