TV dramas often focus on the criminal backstory of drugs and alcohol and the fight against crime. But we know that for many people who spiral into addiction there is another story: loss of job, broken relationships and loss of family and friends. There is also a cost to society and its right that we should help combat it.

I am therefore pleased to see Stockport receive more than £1.2 million from the Government to combat drug and alcohol misuse.

This funding, representing a 22% increase, will boost the services available for people addicted to drugs and alcohol, as well as helping to cut crime. This builds on the Government’s ambitions in the 10-year drug strategy to deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system and reduce drug use to a 30-year low.

Across England, local authorities will receive an extra £421 million of Government funding over the next two-years, to improve drug and local addictions treatment and recovery. The extra funding means that the total funding for treatment will have increased by 40% between 2020/21 and 2024/25.

The funding will enable Stockport Council to recruit more staff to work with people who suffer from drug and alcohol problems, support more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services, and invest in enhancing the quality of treatment they provide.

Drug misuse has a massive cost to society with more than 3,000 people dying as a result in 2021. This investment by the Government will be crucial in reducing the risk of drug misuse and the harms that this has on society.

We know how devastating drug and alcohol misuse can be for those battling addictions, and the implications this has on our communities, and so I look forward to working with Stockport Council to promote these services and ensure the most vulnerable in our society are helped.