Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of charging for NHS services required because of injuries caused by alcohol or drug misuse.

We recognise that drinking alcohol and drug use does place significant strain on the National Health Service, but there are both ethical and practical reasons not to seek payment from patients. The founding principle of the NHS is that services are free of charge, available to all on the basis of need, not ability to pay. It is funded accordingly, from general taxation.