The Scottish Parliament is seeking views on the right to addiction recovery (Scotland) bill, which was introduced earlier this year. The parliament wants to hear from individuals, charities and support groups, as well as people working in the health, academic and legal sectors and local and national government, it says.
The bill would ensure that anyone diagnosed by a health professional as ‘addicted to alcohol or drugs or both’ is provided with treatment within three weeks, and that they have a say in the type of treatment provided. If the health professional decided that the treatment chosen was inappropriate – or that no treatment was necessary – they would have to inform the person in writing why this was the case. People would also be able to seek a second opinion if they did not agree with the original decision.
‘We’re keen to hear views on whether people agree with the purpose and extent of the bill and whether it will help those facing drug and alcohol addiction,’ said Clare Haughey MSP. ‘We want to know what the key advantages and/or disadvantages are of placing this right to receive treatment, for people with drug and alcohol addiction, in law. We also want to hear views on the proposed procedure for determining treatment, and timescales for providing treatment.’
Meanwhile, Collective Voice has expressed concern about the potential impact of the recent budget on the drug and alcohol field. While broadly welcoming the budget as ‘a realistic response to what has been a serious assessment of the situation facing the country’, executive director Will Haydock said he was worried that charities risked being overlooked when it came to allocation of resources.
‘Most of the funding in England for community treatment for issues with alcohol or other drugs comes through local authorities’ public health grant and the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment & Recovery grant – both of which are provided through the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC),’ he said. While the budget’s funding increase for DHSC meant he was hopeful that money would ‘filter down to individual programmes’ and mean funding for local providers would be ‘at least maintained at current levels’, the risk was that charities would not necessarily be considered under the health umbrella – ‘which is often simply thought of as “the NHS”,’ he stated. There was also a risk that charities could be excluded from the health sector exemptions to increased employee national insurance contributions, he warned.
While the budget included £233m of additional homelessness spending in 2025-26, the most recent figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) revealed an 18 per cent increase in the number of people sleeping rough in London between July and September this year on the same period last year. A total of 4,780 people were recorded as rough sleeping, 2,343 of whom were rough sleeping for the first time. More than 680 people were also deemed to be ‘living on the streets’, more than 40 per cent more than last year.
‘It is heart breaking to see the latest reality of the homelessness crisis brought home by these figures – almost 5,000 people sleeping on the streets of London in just three months is a number that should incense us all,’ said St Mungo’s chief executive Emma Haddad. ‘With a massive increase in the number of people sleeping rough for the first time, alongside a massive increase in the number of people actually living on the streets, we need to treat this as an emergency. Our outreach teams are on the frontline of this crisis right now. They supported 9,000 people rough sleeping in the UK last year. They are also responding to increased levels of need, with mental health needs particularly pronounced.’
While the £233m allocation in the budget was welcome, funding needed to be ‘sustainable, long term and part of a much broader solution that prevents people becoming homeless in the first place’ to have a real impact, she stressed.
Right to addiction recovery (Scotland) bill – call for written evidence available here until 20 December