In 2021, Dame Carol Black’s Independent Review of Drugs set out more than 30 recommendations to address drug harms in the UK. It called for significant investment in the drug treatment and recovery system. The review was the basis for the UK national drug strategy, From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives. The strategy focuses on a ‘whole system approach’ to break drug supply chains, reduce the demand for drugs, and deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system. Following Dame Carol Black’s review, the government also established the Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU). The JCDU brings together multiple government departments with the explicit aim of supporting the implementation of the national drug strategy. The drug strategy was published under the Johnson Conservative government (2019-2022) in 2021.

Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDPs), overseen by the JCDU, are multi-agency forums that aim to co-ordinate delivery of the UK national drug strategy at a local level. They seek to “provide a single setting for understanding and addressing shared challenges related to drug-related harm, based on local context and need”, as described in the drugs strategy guidance for local delivery partners. At the time of writing, in July 2025, there were 103 CDPs, with coverage across the whole of England. CDP operations often take the form of regular meetings, and formal and informal communication, between staff from different member organisations to discuss the implementation of the strategy. These member organisations span different sectors, scopes and responsibilities. They typically include local authorities, the criminal justice system (for example, police and probation), organisations or charities responsible for delivering support and treatment services, and other delivery partners, such as Jobcentre Plus, housing services within the local authority, and the National Health Service (NHS).

Verian has partnered with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the Centre for Evaluating Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) to evaluate the CDPs’ application of the whole system approach to tackling drugs within England. The key evaluation questions are:

• what approaches are CDPs taking to deliver the national drug strategy?
• how is multi-agency working being undertaken in each CDP at the strategic and/or operational level?
• how are CDPs delivering effective monitoring against the National Combating Drugs Outcomes Framework (NCDOF)?
• what are the enablers and challenges faced by CDPs, and how have they been overcome?

To explore these evaluation questions, Verian, NatCen and CECAN conducted the following research activities:

• an evidence review of published literature
• an exploratory survey of all CDPs 
• qualitative interviews with stakeholders from 12 different CDPs across different roles and levels of seniority, and
• interviews with people who use support services in 8 of the 12 CDP areas selected for deep dive research as part of the evaluation (a total of 125 interviews)
• participatory systems mapping workshops with CDP partners in 5 deep-dive areas