Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to target support to people with adverse childhood experiences to prevent alcohol harm.

Evidence suggests that adverse childhood experiences are often intergenerational, and while people with adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have grown up in a household where one or both parents were alcohol dependent compared to the general population, their children are also more likely to develop alcohol problems as they get older.

This is why we are investing in vital services to be at the heart of local offers for families. Not only do these services play a pivotal role in keeping more children safe from adverse experiences, with stable loving relationships, they can also help overcome multiple, complex problems within families before they escalate.

We have committed to £1 billion of funding for programmes to improve early help support. This includes around £300 million to fund a new three-year Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This programme, now in its second year, is delivering a step-change in outcomes for babies, children, parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England with high deprivation. This funding also includes an additional £695 million for the Supporting Families programme, which builds the resilience of vulnerable families by providing effective support for all their underlying and interconnected problems, such as addressing alcohol harms and other adverse childhood experiences.

We are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024, compared to 2018/19, to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people, including those with adverse childhood experiences, can get the mental health support that they need. We are also rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges across England. The Government is also investing an extra £532 million for local authorities to improve alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services through Drug Strategy funding through to 2024/25. Local authorities are encouraged to develop programmes which provide tailored support to families affected by parental alcohol and drug use with this funding.