Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle (a) age and (b) socio-economic inequalities in alcohol treatment service provision.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning services to meet these needs, including substance misuse treatment services for people with alcohol dependence.

Public Health England supports local authorities in this work by providing data, guidance and advice. This includes the Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) which provide local data alongside national comparisons to support local health improvement and an intelligence-driven approach to understanding and meeting local need. Inequalities data is included wherever possible to allow local government, health organisations, commissioners and other agencies to assess the extent of variation in alcohol-related harm. The LAPE is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/local-alcohol-profiles