In October, I attended a second UK drugs ministerial meeting, alongside my counterparts in the devolved administrations. The meeting was hosted by the Rt Hon Kit Malthouse MP, Minister of State in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, and the purpose of the meeting was to hear from a number of expert speakers and provide an opportunity to share good practice, challenges and lessons learned across each of the administrations. The meeting also provided me with the opportunity to show the commitment of the Welsh Government to the substance misuse agenda, including our strong emphasis on harm reduction and the work being taken forward through our delivery plan. At the meeting, I welcomed the UK Government's renewed commitment to this agenda and the development of a new UK drug strategy. However, given that criminal justice is not devolved, I stressed the importance of the need to be fully involved in any changes impacting in Wales, and this is something my officials are in contact with the Home Office about.

Based on our harm-reduction approach here in Wales, we do not believe that further criminalisation of vulnerable individuals would be effective. We await the publication of this strategy, but I do believe, at this point, that the UK Government do not intend to change from their current position of this being led through a criminal justice response.

We have fully engaged with colleagues from the devolved administrations and the UK Government, which provides the opportunity for joint working and learning where we have common goals in reducing substance misuse harm. In Swansea bay, we have worked with local partners and the Home Office, developing project ADDER alongside areas in England. Project ADDER—addiction, diversion, disruption, enforcement and recovery—is a Home Office project designed to support a whole-system approach to substance misuse, bringing together both treatment and policing, with support for interventions both at local level and targeted national work on supply. Project ADDER involves co-ordinated law enforcement activities, alongside expanded diversionary activity and treatment and recovery provision, and is focused on areas of high levels of drug-related deaths.

We see this as an opportunity to develop new ways of working, including working with the criminal justice partners on responding to substance misuse through treatment and breaking the cycle for some of the most vulnerable of going in and out of prison. The approach set out in project ADDER fits well with the Welsh Government's work through the area planning boards, in particular, Swansea bay APB, where there has been a high number of drug-related deaths in recent years. However, I have expressed my disappointment to the UK Government that Swansea bay has not benefited from the additional HM Treasury funding for health that the project ADDER areas in England have received.

A key part of our harm-reduction agenda is our national naloxone initiative, where we have made excellent progress. An important development in naloxone is the work we are undertaking with the police to enable officers to carry nasal naloxone on duty. We have also funded a pilot whereby peers distribute take-home naloxone on the streets, and also provide harm-reduction advice that puts people with lived experience at the forefront of our work, something I very much welcome. This has been highly successful and has resulted in all areas of Wales looking at replicating this model.

Following agreement by Ministers from all four nations that the current legislation on naloxone needed to be reviewed, we've engaged with colleagues from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government on the development of a joint consultation about expanding access to naloxone. The UK-wide consultation closed at the end of September and sought views on widening the services that are able to supply naloxone, a move that would support our harm-reduction approach in Wales. My officials are now working with colleagues in terms of next steps and will be considering the impact of the response to the consultation in a Welsh context.

I welcome the opportunity to respond to this debate, as I am passionate about making a difference in this area. Whilst we do not hold all the legislative powers, there is much we can do to progress a distinctive Welsh response to substance misuse. I recognise the Member's comments, but, as she also recognises, these powers do lie with the UK Government, and it's important for me as Minister to focus on where we can make a difference. And as I said in responding to the debate by Peredur Owen Griffiths, I'd be very happy to engage with his cross-party group on the important issues raised this evening. 

We will continue to progress our commitments in the substance misuse delivery plan and, of course, to continue to engage with colleagues from the devolved administrations and the UK Government in order to work together with the aim of reducing the harms from substance misuse. Diolch yn fawr.