Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on developing a national strategy to address alcohol consumption in line with recommendation 4 of the Cancer Strategy; and if he will make a statement.

The Government remains committed to tackling all-alcohol related harms, including cancer, which is why we are developing a new alcohol strategy. Ministers and officials are currently engaged in a series of meetings with stakeholders in the development of the strategy, which we hope to be able to publish early next year.

The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines were published in 2016 to provide the public with the most up to date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking. The Department subsequently issued guidance in March 2017 setting out how the guidelines can be communicated on alcohol labels to better inform consumers. We will work with industry partners during the development of the strategy on promoting dissemination of the guidelines.