Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the way in which alcohol consumption habits have changed during the last two years.

‘Monitoring alcohol consumption and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic: summary’ published in July 2021, reviewed the changes in alcohol consumption and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic. This indicated that there has been a change in where people buy alcohol, with more alcohol being purchased in the off-trade. The volume of off-trade sales increased by 25% between 2019 and 2020. The report is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-consumption-and-harm-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/monitoring-alcohol-consumption-and-harm-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-summary

Surveys measuring self-reported alcohol consumption show that the majority of respondents reported drinking the same volume and the same frequency as before the pandemic. Similar proportions of respondents reported drinking more or more frequently and drinking less or less frequently. Those who reported drinking more during the pandemic than before tended to be heavier drinkers.