Parliamentary Question into Volatile Substance Abuse

Per the most recent Volatile Substance Abuse newsletter from Re-Solv:

 "On 25th February Joan Walley MP asked the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths have been recorded from volatile substance abuse in (a) North Staffordshire and (b) the UK in each of the last five years; and what steps are being taking to prevent volatile substance abuse among children and young adults.

In her reply, Jane Ellison cited the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, most recently showing that there were 15 deaths attributed to VSA in England and Wales (1 in North Staffordshire) during 2012.

In response to the question about what steps are being taken to prevent VSA, Ms Ellison referenced the following:

• Drug education, including information about volatile substances, is part of national curriculum science at key stage 2 and key stage 3. Provision in this area can be built on through personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education.
• Public Health England manage the Talk to FRANK service. 
• The Department has worked with the Association of Convenience Stores to encourage retailers who are not members of the Association to adopt the same standard of practice.
• Also, the Department has funded Re-Solv to develop its Community for Recovery website to help people who abuse volatile substances.

A full summary is available here on the Parliament.uk website and we thank Ms Walley for continuing to raise parliamentary awareness of this important issue."