To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address Britain’s drinking culture, which Public Health England recently identified as causing a rise in liver disease deaths.
Answered on
4 November 2014
The Government’s Alcohol Strategy, set out ambitions whereby ‘we will radically reshape the approach to alcohol and reduce the number of people drinking to excess’. The ambitions include:
- a change in behaviour so that people think it is not acceptable to drink in ways that could cause harm to themselves and others;
- a reduction in the amount of alcohol-fuelled violent crime;
- a reduction in the number of adults drinking above the National Health Service guidelines;
- a reduction in the number of people ‘binge drinking’;
- a reduction in the number of alcohol-related deaths; and
- a sustained reduction in both the numbers of 11-15 year olds drinking alcohol and the amounts consumed.
In November 2012, the Home Office launched a consultation on five key areas with the aim of reducing alcohol-fuelled crime, anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related health harm.
The Government response, published in July 2013, provided an analysis of the responses and set out the next steps that the Government will take:
- targeted national action, ending sales of the cheapest alcohol by introducing a ban on selling alcohol below the price of duty and VAT, and strengthening the ban on irresponsible promotions in pubs and clubs;
- a challenge to industry to increase its efforts, building on what has already been achieved through the Public Health Responsibility Deal. This includes tackling high strength products; promoting alcohol responsibly in shops; improving education around drinking; and supporting targeted local action; and
- support local action on alcohol-related harm, identifying a number of high harm local alcohol action areas and take action with them to strengthen local partnerships; improve enforcement; and share good practice based on what works locally. The Minister for Crime Prevention announced the twenty successful areas on 13 February 2014.