Findings from Audit Scotland report - Jillian Matthew, Senior Manager Ray Buist, Audit Manager

How responsive are drug and alcohol services to the needs of people using services and is this evidenced in outcomes and performance data? 3. [...] How effective are the funding arrangements for drug and alcohol services for achieving objectives in national strategies, and what is the balance of investment across different types of services 3 Key messages summary • The number of people dying in Scotland because of alcohol or drug use remains high compared with the rest of the UK and Europe, despite funding more than doubling over the last ten. [...] • The Scottish Government has yet to undertake an evaluation of the costs and effectiveness of alcohol and drug services to determine if they are delivering value for money. [...] 9 Part 3 – Funding • Alcohol and drug services are currently funded from NHS core funding passed to the IA, National Mission funding and an alcohol and drugs policy budget, managed by the Scottish Government’s Drug Policy Division • In 2023/24, £161 million funding was distributed through four main channels 10 Funding for D+A services • Funding has more than doubled from £70.5 million in 2014/15 t. [...] We also say that ADPs, IAs and their key partners must work together to tackle those barriers that continue to prevent people accessing the help they need, and staying in treatment, and engage further with people with lived and living experience to inform how services are delivered in local areas.