1. Broken down by name of substance/drug and calendar year, the number of non-fatal overdoses and near-fatal overdoses recorded in the calendar years 2023 and 2024
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
2. Broken down by name of substance/drug and calendar year, the number of drug-related deaths recorded in the calendar years 2023 and 2024
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
3. Broken down by calendar year, the number of alcohol-related deaths recorded in the calendar years 2023 and 2024
This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means).
The requested information is already publicly available via this webpage Alcohol-specific deaths in England and Wales by local authority – Office for National Statistics Please note, Data for alcohol-related mortality is only available to 2022.
4. Broken down by calendar year, the number of deaths in drug and alcohol treatment (including people who left treatment within 6 months of their death) recorded in the calendar years 2023 and 2024
This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means).
The requested information is already publicly available via this webpage Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales Please note, 2024 data is not yet available.
5. Details of the membership of your local drug information systems (LDIS) panel and multi-agency/partnership panel to review cases of drug and alcohol-related deaths (DARDs) and non-fatal overdoses and near-fatal overdoses – does the panel have a lead officer and chair? How many members does each panel have (if they are distinct) and what are their expertise in relevant disciplines as per LDIS guidance (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7483b440f0b616bcb1717c/Drug_alerts_and_local_drug_information_systems_guidance.pdf) medical, policing, pharmacology, drugs specialists, etc?
LDIS: Devon County Council does not hold this information. Due to the volume of reports received via the LDIS, Public Health Devon do not convene an LDIS panel to determine if an alert should be issued.
DARD: Devon County Council does not hold this information. Public Health Devon are in the process of establishing a drug and alcohol related death review process for Devon. This will be named the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Related Harms (PDARH) Review Panel. The membership has not yet been confirmed but will have a Chairperson. There will be a core membership of 7 organisations with additional members representing a wider range of services being brought in to participate in review meetings as required. The core membership will have representation from: Police, Adult Social Care, Public Health Devon, Mental Health services, Treatment Providers, Primary Care.
6. Details of the geographic area (eg is it limited to your council area or a larger area) covered by your multi-agency/partnership panel which reviews (a) drug-related deaths (b) alcohol-related deaths (c) deaths in drug and alcohol treatment (including people who left treatment within 6 months of their death) (d) near-fatal overdoses.
The geographical area covered for a-d is the Devon County Council area.
7. Name and description of the local partnership group into which that multi-agency/partnership panel reports eg combating drugs partnership (CDP)
The review will sit within the Devon Drug and Alcohol Strategic Partnership (DDASP) which reports to the National Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU).
8. Copies of, or a hyperlink to (if online), the terms of reference for your multi-agency/partnership panel.
Please refer to this Local Drugs Information System (LDIS) Standard Operating Procedure_draft document which is currently under review.
Some information has been redacted in grey and is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data). This is because Devon County Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the UK General Data Protection Regulation. In this instance, release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.
9. Broken down by calendar year and the name of the substances/drugs suspected to be involved in each death, the number of reviews your multi-agency/partnership panel carried out in the calendar years 2023 and 2024 for (a) drug-related deaths (b) alcohol-related deaths (c) deaths in drug and alcohol treatment (including people who left treatment within 6 months of their death) (d) near-fatal overdoses.
Devon County Council does not hold this information. This is because we did not have a prevention of deaths co-ordinator
in post and instead commissioned the report Deaths Related to Drug Use in Devon.
Some information has been redacted in grey and is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data). This is because Devon County Council cannot disclose personal information if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the UK General Data Protection Regulation. In this instance, release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.
10. Copies of, or a hyperlink to (if online), any evaluation carried out in the calendar years 2023 and 2024 by your multi-agency/partnership panel of its impact/work
11. Copies of, or a hyperlink to (if online), any published records of findings and actions carried out by your multi-agency/partnership panel (such as an annual report) in the calendar years 2023 and 2024
In response to questions 10 and 11, these have interpreted to relate to our death review panel, please refer to the Deaths Related to Drug Use in Devon report.
12. Details of any data sharing process agreed with a coroner by your multi-agency/partnership panel – is a process agreed and what is the name of the coroner’s office(s) involved?
Devon County Council has recently appointed new coroner and we are in the process of establishing data sharing processes across preventable and sudden deaths. The Coroners office covers the jurisdiction of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.
13. Details of any notification process for near-fatal overdoses agreed with ambulance services, integrated care boards and/or hospital trusts by your multi-agency/partnership panel – is a process agreed and what are the names of the ambulance service(s), integrated care board(s) and/or hospital trust(s) involved?
Devon County Council are currently working with South Western Ambulance Service Trust to develop a notification process which will be tested with a range of stakeholders prior to finalising.