Data reported by the Labour Party shows that cuts to council budgets for addiction services have led to lowest number of people receiving treatment for alcohol dependency in a decade despite people in need continuing to grow.
Research by the House of Commons Library requested by the Labour Party estimates that the number of alcohol dependent adults in England has risen steadily since 2011 and more than 600,000 adults needed support as of 2016-17. However, the number of people in alcohol treatment has fallen more than 12% since 2013; this is the point at which damaging NHS reforms introduced by Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley shifted public health responsibility to councils.
Full story in The Independent, 13 September 2018
