4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in Wales? OAQ51899

We invest almost £50 million a year in our substance misuse agenda, with the actions that we are taking highlighted in our latest substance misuse delivery plan. This includes supporting drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. These services are, of course, commissioned regionally by area planning boards, based on an assessment of local need.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Drug abuse is a massive issue in our prisons—the primary reason why prisoners offend in the first place and a reason why many reoffend. Despite efforts by prison staff, who work extremely hard to provide mandatory drug testing and help prisoners come off drugs, this work is sometimes undone because, upon release, prisoners are often abandoned at the prison gates, with no housing or ongoing support. Cabinet Secretary, what is the Welsh Government doing to support the rehabilitation of drug addicts in the criminal justice system in order to combat reoffending rates?

I had a meeting today at which part of this issue was covered—about the adequacy of NHS healthcare within the prison system. Of course, Parc we don't have oversight for because it's the nature of it being a private prison. Actually, the oversight there comes from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. There is a challenge here also about recognising, once prisoners are released, their relationship with the probation service. I really do regret the changes that have been made by the United Kingdom Government to the probation service. I think it is a less robust service that is less able to properly support people on their release from a custodial sentence, and I think they are more likely to reoffend and find themselves in a vulnerable position as a result. But there is a regular amount of work that looks at healthcare within prisons, of which, of course, substance misuse is an important part, and I expect to have a further update from the joint work being done by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Her Majesty's inspectorate on the adequacy of the service being provided.

Cabinet Secretary, I wonder if you would join me in applauding the work of Kaleidoscope and Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service in providing a wide range of activities for those in recovery from their drug and alcohol problems, so that they can develop new interests, find more useful ways of occupying their time in aiding that recovery process and, in particular, recognise new initiatives, such as this Saturday, when I will be joining Kaleidoscope staff and service users at Newport parkrun, where they're developing a collaboration to offer further opportunities for those in recovery to develop new interests and find useful purposes in life.

I've visited the Kaleidoscope service, and I recognise the commitment of the staff there. Again, going back to some of the other issues that we've discussed, recovery is not a simple one-step journey. It will be different for different people. I recognise the parkrun. I won't be joining you—I'll make that clear—on Saturday, but there are a variety of different means to aid that recovery, different interests and different distractions. But also, it involves taking care of your physical health in that recovery journey. So, I recognise the work. They are a valued partner, commissioned by the area planning boards that are delivering those services, and they're a good model for what a successful service looks like.

During the 21 November Welsh Government debate on tackling substance misuse, I noted that, despite the all-Wales substance misuse framework for residential rehabilitation, large numbers of people from Wales proportionately were still being referred to providers in England that weren't on the framework. I have since received concerns from the sector, saying that the pathway to residential rehabilitation in Wales is fractured, there's a postcode lottery in access to residential rehabilitation in Wales, and residential services are not commissioned in the true sense but spot-purchased. How, therefore, are you delivering, or going to deliver, on the Welsh Conservative amendment that was passed in that debate unanimously, including with support from your own party, calling on the Welsh Government to increase capacity in tier 4 in-patient detoxification and residential rehabilitation services, recognising that this is not an alternative to recovery-focused services within the community?

Well, it would be helpful if the Member could write to me with the detail that he's provided and I will happily look at it, because I do expect area planning boards to properly commission services and make sure that the need that we do have is properly met and, wherever possible, met within the most local setting. There may be times when specialist services are required outside of Wales, but I would expect our services that we commission and that we provide funding for are properly used, and used to their fullest extent.