From 2010/11 funding for under-18's drug and alcohol treatment will be reallocated using a new formula to reflect more accurately the levels of need among young people for specialist services.

This move follows a similar course of action for adult treatment funding, which was subject to a change in formula in 2008/09 to ensure areas which provided effective treatment to more people received a larger share of funding than those areas which treated fewer people.

The new funding formula for young people's specialist treatment will carefully link the £25.4 million budget provided by the Department of Health in 2010 to a relevant young people's index of area need across all 149 areas in England. This amounts to an increase in available funding from the previous year (£24.7 million).

The formula, known as the Child Wellbeing Index (CWI) allows for a comprehensive assessment of child wellbeing at local authority and neighbourhood level which captures many of the risk factors associated with young people's substance misuse including:

• Material wellbeing
• Health
• Education
• Crime
• Housing
• Environment

The CWI was developed by the Social Policy Research Unit (University of York) and the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (University of Oxford) and will be applied to funds distributed to all Primary Care Trusts from April 2010, although the formula will not be applied in full until April 2011 to ensure services have the opportunity to plan for any potential loss of funds.

Rosanna O'Connor, NTA Director of Delivery, says: "All young people in England should have ready access to specialist drug and alcohol treatment services where needed, and while service improvements will be expected from those areas receiving a greater share of funds, we would not expect to see disinvestment in services by those areas receiving a reduced share of funds in future.

"The NTA is ready to provide support and guidance for partnerships with specific concerns around strategic commissioning and funding of services."

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Notes to editors

The NTA was set up by Government in 2001 to improve the availability, capacity and effectiveness of treatment for drug misuse in England. The NTA took similar responsibility for young people's substance misuse in England in 2007.

The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) is the key source of information for monitoring the numbers in treatment for the Government's drug strategy.

The NTA works in partnership with national, regional and local agencies to ensure the efficient use of public funding to support effective, appropriate and accessible local services.

These statistics are collated by the National Drug Evidence Centre at Manchester University from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.

For further information and media interview requests please contact the NTA press office on 020 7972 1920.