Policy Research Programme - Evaluation of the 10-year drug strategy investment in the treatment and recovery system in England

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Supporting Information

*This document is an example of the online Standard Application Form and can be used as a template to prepare your answers. Please do not use this as an application form. You must apply using the online form in the Research Management System.

In December 2021, the government announced a new 10-year drug strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’. The strategy is built around three strategic priorities (1) to break drug supply chains, (2) to deliver a world class treatment and recovery system, (3) to achieve a generational shift in demand for drugs, and sets out a whole-system approach to tackling illegal drug use, and reducing drug-related harm, death and crime in England.

The ambition to build a world class treatment system will be delivered through the Treatment and Recovery (T&R) Portfolio, which is underpinned by £780 million of new funding over a three-year period. The majority of this investment (£532m) has been allocated to DHSC to fund the transformation of community treatment and recovery services, with smaller allocations being made available to deliver additional elements of the recovery package.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme (PRP) invites applications for a single research project to design and deliver the evaluation of the Treatment and Recovery Portfolio. The portfolio includes six key strands of work, with a number of programmes within each.

This research will be critical for evaluating a significant national multi-year portfolio of work, and would be required to assess the portfolio’s overall implementation, and carry out several smaller scale appraisals for a select number of high priority programmes. The portfolio will need to be evaluated for the duration of the new investment (2022/23 to 2024/25), and we therefore expect the project to run from September 2023 at the latest until summer 2025, with a substantive interim report due in summer 2024 and a final report due in Autumn/Winter 2025

Webinar

The Evaluation of the 10-year drug strategy is a high priority for the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Given the scale and complexity of this call, to ensure applications are high quality and meet the specification, we will be hosting a webinar for potential applicants on Wednesday 14 September, 2-3:30pm, ahead of the Stage 1 submission date. You can register for the webinar using the google registration form. This will be hosted by CCF with DHSC and OHID colleagues and will allow applicants to ask questions on the specification and hear more about the evaluation requirements.

For more information, please consult the Research Specification for this call (linked on the right hand side).

The submission deadline for applications is 1pm on 04 October 2022.

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