Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the implications are for his forthcoming alcohol strategy of Public Health England’s support for minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

The Government is developing a new cross-government alcohol strategy which will set out targeted action to prevent and reduce harmful drinking, support vulnerable people affected by others’ alcohol misuse, improve the pathway into treatment for people with alcohol dependency and professionalise the licensing system.

The new strategy will not include a commitment to introduce minimum unit pricing in England at this time, but Public Health England is being commissioned to carry out a scientific review into the impact of minimum unit pricing following its recent introduction in Scotland.