§ Lord Mancroftasked Her Majesty's Government:
What arrangements are being made to monitor the range and quality of services provided by the statutory and voluntary sector for people who misuse alcohol.
§ Baroness HooperThe Department of Health and the Welsh Office intend improving the arrangements for monitoring services for people who misuse alcohol by extending the remit of the NHS Drug Advisory Service to include advising on alcohol services.
The Drug Advisory Service uses multi-disciplinary teams to visit Health Districts to examine drug service provision, spread good practice, disseminate new ideas and help resolve local problems through discussion. It will continue its valuable work in this area, whilst taking on the new task in the alcohol field.
This extension of its remit will be reviewed at the end of the first year of operation, and a decision made as to the future of the service.