The National Development Project Fund (NDPF) forms part of Scottish Government's investment in services to reduce problem drugs and alcohol use and reflects the priorities of the Rights, Respect and Recovery strategy. In January 2019, Ten projects were awarded NDPF funding to address gaps in advocacy, family inclusive services, and start-up investment for new approaches to recovery.

In October 2019, the Scottish Government commissioned Iconic Consulting to evaluate the NDPF.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government published an evaluation ( National Development Project Fund (NDPF) - evaluation: final report ) of those projects which were supported through the NDPF. Of the ten projects evaluated, six were Advocacy based.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

As part of the National Mission, Public Health Scotland established the Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) system. The first published report was issued on 11 October 2022 and that has been followed by quarterly publications. It reports on drug-related indicators in order to inform action to prevent drug harms and deaths.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

Assertive outreach is being delivered though the guidance for Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standard 3. The aim of MAT standard 3 is to proactively identify people, including through assertive outreach, who are at high risk, and to prevent harms by rapidly providing that individual with appropriate support.

In practice, implementation of MAT standard 3 extends to all substance misuse problems. A significant proportion of support offered to people identified through outreach is for problem alcohol use. Alcohol-specific outreach guidance will feature in wider standards for alcohol and drug treatment following the publication of UK-wide alcohol treatment guidelines.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

The Partnership Delivery Framework to Reduce the Use of and Harm from Alcohol and Drugs which was approved by COSLA Leaders and Scottish Ministers in 2019, sets out clear arrangements for quality assurance and quality improvement work to be undertaken at a local level.

The Drugs Death Taskforce recommended in their final report, Changing Lives , that; The Scottish Government should develop a National Specification outlining the key parts of the treatment and recovery system that should be available in every local area, ensuring it also delivers on the principles of quality, choice, access and parity of treatment with other health conditions.

We have made a commitment in our Cross Government Plan that we agree that a National Specification for services would help set these requirements out more clearly. This would also provide more accountability, particularly for those with lived and living experience and their families who will be able to see clearly what they can expect to be available in the treatment and recovery system.

We are working with partners to scope out the components of a Specification for further development and consultation. This process will need to involve a range of local and national partners and most important amongst those will be people with experience of using the services and their families.

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s approach to transforming employment support in Scotland. This strategy is tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages and backgrounds who want help and support on their journey towards and into work - particularly people with health conditions, people with disabilities and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market, including those with lived and living experience of alcohol and drug use.

In January of this year, the Scottish Government published our Cross-Government response to the Drug Deaths Taskforce, ‘Changing Lives’ final report. This response set out our commitment to progress Cross Government work to provide employment support through the No One Left Behind strategy.

Scottish Government’s forthcoming Drugs and Alcohol Workforce Action Plan will provide further information on work underway to support people with lived and living experience of drugs and alcohol use towards, and into work, including roles within the drugs and alcohol sector.

Rights, Respect and Recovery sets a clear expectation that all people accessing services with a substance use condition should receive holistic, person-centred care. MAT standard 9 builds upon this, stating that ‘all people with co-occurring drug use and mental health difficulties can receive mental health care at the point of MAT delivery.’ The government is taking forward a number of measures to ensure that people with co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions receive this joined-up care.

We have funded Healthcare Improvement Scotland to test new models of care in five health boards – Tayside, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and Lothian.

The government also published a rapid review into mental health and substance use services in November 2022. This included a literature review, a survey of practitioners in substance use services, and a set of recommendations.

Finally, the government has recently commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to produce an exemplar protocol which will set out how mental health and substance use services should work together. This will build on existing best practice and support local areas to implement the recommendations from the rapid review and the criteria of the MAT standards.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

Quality improvement methodology is being embedded across Scotland through the implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards.

The MAT Standards Implementation Support Team (MIST), based within Public Health Scotland, was set up to support local areas to build improvement-based capacity and capability so that they will be able to implement and sustain the MAT standards locally.

MIST helps local areas with quality improvement work which has focused on establishing that local areas have written procedures in place, have numerical information and data available and have a means in place to gather experiential data. All of which are required to help drive improvement.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is also supporting local areas and works closely with MIST in providing practical quality improvement assistance and advice to local areas.

HIS will shortly begin delivery of its full quality improvement assistance to local areas to build on the first phase of quality improvement work MIST has undertaken. HIS also provides close links between its other relevant workstreams on residential rehabilitation, prison healthcare and mental health and addictions services.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

The Prison to Rehab pathway was established in the summer of 2020 to support individuals into residential rehabilitation services during the unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We conducted an internal review of the pathway in 2021-2022 which was complimented by an evaluation from one of our commissioned third sector organisations, the Scottish Recovery Consortium. The published evaluation can be viewed here . The review and the evaluation informed a new version of the Prison to Rehab protocol to ensure it continued to be fit for purpose. This was published in March 2023 and can be viewed here here .

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way.

In July 2022 the Scottish Drugs Deaths Taskforce ‘Changing Lives’ Report, was published. This report recommended that The Scottish Government should develop a workforce action plan. In response to this recommendation, Scottish Government’s Drugs and Alcohol Workforce Action Plan will shortly be published, setting out the steps we will take to address prevailing challenges.

Alcohol remains a priority for Scottish Government and we are treating our policies to reduce alcohol and drug deaths as twin public health emergencies in Scotland.

This is why we established a National Mission to improve and save lives, at the core of which is ensuring that every individual has access to, and choice in the type of recovery and treatment they need.

We are working to ensure people with alcohol use disorder receive the care and support in the same way that people can access for problematic use of drugs. The forthcoming Alcohol Treatment Guidelines will help ensure support for alcohol treatment, in a similar way to how the Medication-Assisted Treatment Standards ensure this for people impacted by opiates.

Following publication of the UK-wide guidelines it is our intention to draft a paper on specific alcohol treatment standards for Scotland.

Through our National Mission we are investing in residential rehabilitation that will benefit people experiencing alcohol and/or drug addiction.