Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on levels of alcohol use by people aged under 18.

NHS England holds several data sources covering alcohol use for people aged under 18, including the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People (SDD) survey. From the SDD, 40% of secondary school pupils in years 7 to 11, mostly aged between 11 and 15 years old, in England had “ever had an alcoholic drink” in 2021.

The following table shows data from the SDD from 2021 on when pupils last drank alcohol:

Source: NHS England, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, England, 2021

Notes: Figures do not sum to 100 due to rounding