Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on taking steps to raise awareness of under age drinking.

Public Health England (PHE) is working with other Government departments to help prevent young people from developing alcohol and drug problems. This includes supporting investment in programmes which have a positive impact on young people, giving them the confidence, resilience and risk management skills to resist drug use.

PHE’s Rise Above, an online resilience building resource aimed at 11 to 16-year-olds, provides resources to help young people develop skills to make positive choices for their health, including alcohol use. The Rise Above website can be accessed at the following link:

https://riseabove.org.uk/

PHE’s FRANK website and helpline provides impartial, reliable and confidential information and advice about drugs and provides resource for young people, parents and concerned others. The FRANK website can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.talktofrank.com/

The Department for Education’s statutory guidance ‘Relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education’ will become mandatory in September 2020. Through this, education on drugs, alcohol and tobacco will become compulsory at state-funded primary and secondary schools. The statutory guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education