Cash to tackle drug and drink abuse cut, Tories warn

Funding to tackle drug and alcohol misuse has been cut across Scotland, according to figures gathered by the Scottish Conservatives.

The party found cash for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships fell in half of the country's 14 health boards in 2016/17.

The partnerships are responsible for providing local recovery services and treatments for those with alcohol and drug problems.

Scottish ministers reduced their direct funding from central government last year, but advised health boards would be expected to make up the difference from their increased budgets.

A freedom of information request by the Tories revealed health board contributions in seven boards did not make up the shortfall.

The biggest cut came in NHS Lanarkshire, where spending from central government and the NHS board amounts to a cut of £700,000 on 2015/16.

Funding has also gone down in Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Tory MSP Brian Whittle said: "When she announced this change, (Health Secretary) Shona Robison could not have been clearer - overall spending on alcohol and substance misuse would be maintained at existing levels across Scotland.

"It has taken our own research to show this is simply not the case. A fall of nearly three quarters of a million pounds in some areas can only mean that support for drug and drink addiction is being cut.

"Cutting funding on alcohol and drug support is a false economy because people with addictions often cost far more to the justice system and the NHS, not to mention to themselves, if they do not get treatment earlier on.

"Once again, we see SNP pledges falling apart at the seams.

"The Scottish Government must now urgently review the funding of these vital projects to assess whether people who need support are not getting it because of these cuts."

Public health minister Aileen Campbell said: Health spending in Scotland is at record high levels and is set to grow even further over the course of this parliament.

Within their increased budgets, health boards will be working with their local partners to provide the necessary support for meeting the agreed service levels for alcohol and drugs partnerships that we have been set down.

In fact, waiting times for access to drug and alcohol treatment improved in the last quarter of 2016 and now 95% of people staring their first treatment do so in under three weeks, with 55.3% being seen in under one week.''