Wiltshire Council has announced that it has come to an agreement on how it will spend government funding to help tackle illicit drug use and stop the damaging impacts that it can have on individuals, families, and wider communities.
The government awarded the funding to the council, along with others around the country, through the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant, which aims to ‘bolster the solution to illicit drug use, including enforcement and treatment, as well as recovery interventions.Browse available tokens.
£351,756 has been awarded to Wiltshire Council for 2022/23, with £360,000 being awarded for the year after. That number will almost double for 2024/25, with £630,000 worth of funding being available.
Following engagement with key stakeholders, the plans for how the funding will be used have already been approved by the council:
- An increase in the number of drug and alcohol workers
- Outreach and engagement improvements, including for new parents and residents with disabilities
- Targeted services and provisions for parents in need of treatment and support for children of drug and alcohol dependent parents and families
- Additional places of treatment for young people
- Increased residential rehabilitation placements, ensuring that the option is available for the use of everyone who would benefit from it
- Enhanced partnership approaches with physical and mental health services, including the co-location of services and interventions
- The development and expansion of a recovery community and peer support network
- Training, education and continuous professional development
Cabinet Member for Pubic Health, Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, said;
“This is a significant amount of additional money to invest over the next three years so we’ve been very diligent in our planning with key partners to ensure it supports the people who need it most and it makes a long-term difference to their lives. Drug addiction not only impacts the user but also their loved ones and society around them – it can have a truly devastating effect. This funding should help people on the right path to recovery and allow for interventions to be delivered in a much more effective and timely way.
“Prevention and early intervention are key guiding themes in our Business Plan. We are strongly committed to this in the long term.”
The agreement on the funding was made at the council’s cabinet meeting on the 27th September and the full report can be found on their website.
