Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to respond to the finding of Public Health England in the Public Health Burden of Alcohol and the Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of Alcohol Control Policies, published in December 2016, that increasing the price of alcohol products would save over a billion pounds a year over the next 20 years.

The Government will consider the evidence set out in the Public Health England Alcohol Evidence Review over the next few months. The introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing in England and Wales remains under review pending the outcome of the legal case between the Scotch Whisky Association and the Scottish Government, and the impact of the implementation of this policy in Scotland. The issue of taxation of alcohol is a matter for HM Treasury.