Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:02 pm on 25 January 2022.
Thank you very much, James, for those kind words, the welcome for the statement and the recognition of the positive work, and also for your questions. It's really encouraging to hear you say that you too are very keen to take a person-centred, health-related approach to issues with substance misuse. That is very much the ethos that drives our work in Wales. We don't believe that criminalising people is the right way forward, we want to support people going forward.
In terms of the issues you've raised around funding, it is a very substantial amount of additional funding, as I've already highlighted. The money for area planning boards is rising to £31 million, an increase of £6 million. The money for local health boards is rising by £1 million, and we are also then increasing funding for the rehabilitation services that you've referred to, so that's going to increase by £1 million to £2 million to recognise the demand on services.
In terms of the quality of those services, that is governed, really, by the framework that has been developed, and when someone requires to go into a rehabilitation setting, the framework is—[Inaudible.]—the way of making sure of a quality service that meets their needs, and, indeed, to be placed somewhere outside the framework, there has to be a special case made for that, then.
I'm not in a position to give you the exact settings of where all these places are, but I'm very happy to write to you with further details, and, indeed, you can find that information online, because Rehab Cymru is online. I believe it's accessible to the public as well.
You're absolutely right to highlight the concerns about alcohol, and I think we recognise that that is something that has become more of a problem during the pandemic, and, indeed, research has suggested that one of the groups of people that have seen the higher levels of drinking more alcohol are parents with children, which I think is reflective of some of the stresses everybody has been under.
I mentioned the minimum unit pricing for alcohol. That's a key measure that we're taking to try and tackle not just the harm of alcohol for individuals, but also to reduce admissions to hospital as a result of alcohol. Preventing harm caused by alcohol misuse is a key part of our substance misuse agenda and our overall aim continues to be to ensure that people in Wales are aware of the dangers and impact of alcohol misuse and to know where they can seek information, help and support if they need it. I've also asked officials to explore any opportunities available via things like SilverCloud, because there was an alcohol module on SilverCloud, but, unfortunately, what we were finding was that the people who were trying to access it, their needs were too high for that kind of online cognitive behavioural therapy, so they were then directed to other sources of help. But I am very keen, if we can, to see some sort of universal, accessible online option to help people. And, of course, we do fund Alcohol Change UK in Wales as well, and they've got an excellent website and resources on there.
Just on the situation in relation to housing, just to emphasise that we're very proud of the work that we did across Government to make sure that nobody remained on the streets during the pandemic, and there is further investment in the budget for next year to ensure that that work can be continued and built upon.