Alcohol and Drug Partnerships: annual survey 2024 to 2025
This publication reports on responses to the annual survey of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) in Scotland for 2024/25. Its main aim is to evidence progress of the National Mission by providing information on the activity undertaken by ADPs.
Footnotes
1 Two ADPs reported a having a drug death review group in place in 2023/24 but not in 2024/25 (Falkirk and City of Edinburgh). Falkirk ADP confirmed their own drug death review group is under development and testing following operational changes in NHS Forth Valley (there had previously been a drug death review group in place at the NHS board level). In the City of Edinburgh ADP area, a number of groups or structures exist that that partly fulfil the function of reviewing some drug deaths, but the ADP described challenges around resource and effectiveness of reviewing individual deaths; the ADP is considering future drug death review options including targeted deep dives based on themes.
2 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) is a unit of measurement that indicates the total working hours of employees in relation to a full-time position. It helps to standardise and compare staffing resource across different teams or organisations.
3 Note that ADP areas may not be aware of all initiatives implemented at an individual service level. The responses described here highlight a range of available initiatives but are not exhaustive. Staff in different organisations may have access to different wellbeing initiatives.
4 This specifically refers to ADP level and not service level, as service-level is not necessarily something ADPs could report on directly. 28 ADPs provided a response to this question.
5 ‘Supported’ refers to where the ADP provides resources of some kind (separate from financial, which is covered by “funded”). This could take the form of knowledge exchange, staffing, the supply of materials (e.g. learning templates, lending them a physical location) etc.
6 The six ADP areas where Planet Youth is being piloted are Argyll & Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Angus, Highland and West Dunbartonshire.
7 Treatment and support services not relevant for a particular age group are marked as “n/a” in the chart.
8 ‘Harm reduction advice and support in relation to psychostimulants’, ‘Provision of foil’ and ‘Naloxone availability in public places’ were new options added for the 2024/25 survey.
9 Percentages are based on all 30 ADPs. One ADP did not provide a response to this question.
10 ‘Lack of out of hours staff’, ‘Lack of physical infrastructure’ and ‘High staff turnover’ were added as specific barrier options for the 2024/25 survey.
11 ‘Justice partners’ includes Community Justice Partnerships, Justice Social Work departments, Prisons and Young Offender Institutes, Police, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Sacro, and third sector organisations that specifically serve people involved with the criminal justice system.
12 In areas that do not fund services specifically for Community Payback Orders (CPOs) treatment requirements or Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs), these orders might still be imposed regularly and delivered utilising mainstream treatment services, or they may be unavailable and not imposed regularly. Statistics on the number of imposed CPOs and DTTOs can be found in the Justice Social Work Statistics in Scotland: 2023-24 – Part 2 report.
13 Note that not all ADPs have prisons in their area. Prisons are located in 17 local authorities.
14 Pre-arrest: Services for police to refer people into without making an arrest.
15 In police custody: Services available in police custody suites to people who have been arrested.
16 In courts: Services delivered in collaboration with the courts (e.g. services only available through a specialist drug court, services only available to people on a DTTO).
17 In prison: Services available to people in prisons or young offenders’ institutions in your area (if applicable).
18 Upon release: Services aimed specifically at supporting people transitioning out of custody.
19 More information and definitions of the different types of community and custodial sentences can be found in the official statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2023-2024.
20 An Alcohol Brief Intervention (ABI) is a short, evidence-based, structured conversation about alcohol consumption with a patient or service-user that seeks, in a non-confrontational way, to motivate and support the individual to think about and/or plan a change in their drinking behaviours in order to reduce their consumption and/or their risk of harm.
21 Treatment and support services not relevant for a particular age group are marked as “n/a” in the chart.
22 ‘Supported’ refers to where the ADP provides resources of some kind (separate from financial, which is covered by “funded”). This could take the form of knowledge exchange, staffing, the supply of materials (e.g. learning templates, lending them a physical location), etc.
23 Routes supports young people aged 12-26 affected by familial alcohol and drug use.
24 Family Inclusive Practice is a collaborative approach where professionals actively involve a person’s family and social networks in care, proactively ask about the needs of the whole family, to ensure all family members are supported.