Substance misuse is a major health issue that affects individuals, families and communities. The Public Health Wales ‘Making a Difference’ report published in July this year highlighted the scale of the problem of substance misuse, which shows the continued challenges that we face.

The report highlights the threat alcohol misuse poses to public health in Wales, as it’s a major cause of death and illness with high costs to the NHS, society and the economy. For example, alcohol is associated with more than 6,000 cases of domestic violence each year. As well as rising concerns about the impact of alcohol misuse, the fast-changing nature of the drug misuse landscape presents new challenges to policy makers, commissioners, and treatment agencies.

As a Government, we invest almost £50 million annually to deliver the commitments in our 10-year substance misuse strategy, ‘Working Together to Reduce Harm’, which was published in 2008. The Welsh Government approach in our strategy is rooted in a harm-reduction approach, which recognises addiction as a health and care issue, as opposed to one that’s solely related to criminal justice. Our overarching strategy is built around four key aims: preventing harm, support for substance misusers, supporting and protecting families, and tackling the availability of substances and protecting individuals and communities via enforcement activity. Our overall aim is to ensure that people in Wales are aware of the dangers of and the impact of substance misuse in order to help make informed choices and to know where they can seek information, help and support, if they need it.

Since our strategy was launched, we have seen sustained improvements in waiting times for drug and alcohol treatment and other outcomes for this vulnerable and hard-to-reach group, and it’s vital that we maintain this momentum. We cannot make the progress that we want without the support and the expertise of others. We therefore work in strong partnership with the third sector, health, local government and the criminal justice agencies. The latest delivery plan sets out in detail the specific actions that will be undertaken over the next two to three years in support of our strategy to make the further progress that we want to make on this challenging and fast-moving agenda.

This is a plan that has a greater emphasis on prevention, tackling alcohol-related harm and recognising the role that wider primary care services can make to detecting and responding to individuals dealing with substance misuse. Working in partnership will be critical to successful implementation, and our seven area planning boards are key to taking this work forward as they continue to commission and deliver the range of services in their local areas relating to tackling substance misuse.

This plan continues to build on the range of awareness-raising initiatives that we have established, such as DAN 24/7, our bilingual substance misuse helpline. We have also rolled out a national training programme on new psychoactive substances across Wales to ensure that professionals who come into contact with individuals using or considering using these substances have the knowledge they need to provide the necessary information, advice and support.

Early intervention and education are critical in this agenda, and through our all-Wales schools liaison core programme, we are working with the four Welsh police forces to educate pupils on a range of personal and social issues, including substance misuse, domestic abuse and sexual exploitation. The programme is run in all primary and secondary schools across Wales and is well regarded by headteachers and others in local areas.

Recent developments suggest a growing concern about the use of image and performance-enhancing drugs. Therefore, education relating to the implications of using these drugs is also important, particularly in relation to sport. We’ll be holding the first cross-agency symposium to highlight the problem of the misuse of drugs in sport and the wider related social issues shortly. This will also link to the wider work Public Health Wales is undertaking, which is aimed at evidencing the nature, scale and harms associated with steroids and image and performance-enhancing drugs.

Following extensive engagement with stakeholders during its development, our delivery plan was formally consulted on between January and March of this year. Forty-nine responses were received from a wide range of organisations, and these have informed the final plan that you see before you today. As the plan illustrates, we are clear about the contribution that tackling substance misuse can make to achieving the goals set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act, and we have developed this latest plan very much in line with that groundbreaking legislation. High-level substance misuse outcomes have been mapped against the relevant goals so that the links are clear and explicit.

The plan is underpinned by the principles of prudent health and care, and this is an area that can demonstrate good examples of prudent healthcare in practice. I am grateful to those Members who have previously served on the Health and Social Care Committee, who carried out two inquiries on substance misuse, and the new plan incorporates all the recommendations from those inquiries.

As a result of the collaborative and inclusive partnership approach taken in developing the plan, responses to the consultation were very positive. The vast majority of respondents agreed with the outcomes described under each of our aims. A number of responses highlighted areas that could be addressed in order to further strengthen the delivery plan, and an example of this is the need to ensure that services are accessible for all potential service users, including those with protected characteristics. In terms of reducing harm, some felt that there was a need to ensure that further work is undertaken to train all professionals who come into contact with the general public to recognise the signs of substance misuse issues. Also, addressing the cultural change needed to reduce harmful drinking was seen by some as a priority. Respondents also commented that more action was needed on preventing a drug overdose in the first place. We have rolled out our naloxone programme, but it was felt that other harm-reduction approaches should also be promoted, such as helping people who misuse substances to understand the risks, the signs of overdose, the dangers of poly drug use, and encouraging the use of less risky drug administration methods. These and more other helpful suggestions were received during the consultation process and they have been incorporated in order to further strengthen our plan.

So, to conclude, I commend this motion to the Chamber and I support the amendments tabled by Paul Davies. On the first amendment, I agree that we must recognise the problems inherent in the delivery of substance misuse services, given the complexities of supporting somebody with these issues. This is illustrated by the fact that not all individuals may be free from drugs or alcohol at the end of their treatment, as, for many, it will be a lifelong battle.

On the second amendment, we will be reflecting on the latest data. We use and continue to use the data from the substance misuse national database in order to work with area planning boards to put in place plans to address any concerns or areas of development. Therefore, we’re also pleased to support this amendment.

So, I look forward to contributions in the debate. Diolch yn fawr iawn.