Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2nd November 2022 to Question 72439 on Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse, what steps the Department has taken to implement the effective policies mentioned in Public Health England's evidence review: The Public Health Burden of Alcohol and the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Alcohol Control Policies, published in 2016, to reduce the public health burden of alcohol.

Public Health England’s evidence review recommended a range of evidence-based policies which could be effective at reducing alcohol harm, including those related to taxation, regulating marketing and clinical interventions.

The Government is reforming alcohol duty to tax all alcohol according to strength, which will be implemented from 1 August 2023. The Government is currently reviewing how online advertising is regulated in the United Kingdom, including age-restricted or potentially harmful content, such as alcohol advertising. The consultation closed on 8 June 2022 and a response will be issued in due course.

Local authorities and the National Health Service are responsible for the provision of high-quality services to prevent, mitigate and treat alcohol-related health harm. This includes the identification of people at risk and brief advice, an alcohol risk assessment in the NHS Health Check and specialist services for dependent drinkers. Information and brief advice is also included at new general practitioner registrations and within the standard contract for secondary care. Through the drugs strategy, the Government is investing £532 million into local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England, which include treatment for both drug and alcohol addiction.