Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of alcohol-related illnesses in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon, and Gloucestershire Cancer Alliance is supporting liver services in these regions by ensuring that sufficient ultrasound capacity is available to provide six-monthly liver surveillance to people with cirrhosis and advanced fibrosis and by establishing robust call and recall systems within each provider to track and invite those eligible for liver surveillance to attend appointments. The alliance is also ensuring that those who qualify for ultrasound appointments are included on liver surveillance registers.
In addition to funding through the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26, the Department is providing Somerset County Council with £2,101,277 from the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant and the Individual Placement and Support Grant to help improve alcohol and drug treatment and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. All funding is provided at the Somerset level, and it is for Somerset County Council to determine how to meet the needs in Yeovil.
The Department has several analytical tools to help local authorities understand local need. This includes a publication of estimates of the number of alcohol dependent adults in each local authority in England and fingertips published data on alcohol and alcohol related conditions, including mortality and hospital admissions at a regional level. This is alongside a collection of alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery guidance to support commissioners, service providers, and others providing alcohol and drug interventions. The Department has also developed the first ever United Kingdom clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment which are expected to be published in the next few months. The aim of the guidelines is to promote and support good practice and improve the quality of service provision.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce alcohol related cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan, and will seek to reduce risk factors. The plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention. This will include alcohol consumption, alongside other risk factors, given alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven types of cancer: mouth; pharynx; larynx; oesophagus; breast; liver; and bowel, which includes the colon and rectum.
In relation to ensuring public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer, the Government has a responsibility to provide the most up to date health information to enable people to make informed choices about their drinking. Both the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines and the National Health Service’s webpage on alcohol clearly state that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing seven types of cancer.
On 3 July 2025, the Department published ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’, which outlines plans to introduce mandatory alcohol labelling, to increase awareness of harms and enable people to make healthier choices. Details of the next steps will be shared in due course.
The 10-Year Health Plan also recognises that No and Low (NoLo) drinks may have the potential to help adults reduce their alcohol intake if consumed in place of a standard-strength alcohol drink. In the document, we outline plans to explore if there is a need to change the threshold at which products can describe themselves as alcohol free, to support growth of this sector. We will also explore options to restrict access to NoLo products, so they are treated in the same ways as all alcohol products, including banning sales to children under 18 years old. Alongside the plan, a large multi-year National Institute for Health and Care Research study is underway to examine the public health impacts of NoLo products, and we look forward to the findings of that being available in the coming year.
The 10-Year Health Plan also commits to supporting community level innovation, and continued expansion of Individual Placement and Support schemes for people with alcohol addiction to find good work.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce regional disparities in the early diagnosis of liver (a) disease and (b) cancer; and if he will provide additional support to (a) the North West and (b) other high-incidence areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early detection of liver disease and cancer is vital to enable interventions and encourage behavioural change that can potentially lead to recovery. Except for liver transplant services, which are commissioned by NHS England, the commissioning of services for diagnosing, monitoring and treating liver disease is generally the responsibility of integrated care systems (ICS). ICSs are responsible for decisions on commissioning health services and reviewing those services to ensure they best meet the needs of their local population.
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside was one of the first integrated care boards in the country to mandate and support the formation of a Clinical Liver Network to improve liver health outcomes across the system. To improve the diagnosis of previously undiagnosed liver disease in non-traditional healthcare settings there is also a Community Liver Health Checks programme. This programme targets people from the most disadvantaged communities and since its inception in April 2023, this programme has delivered 8,564 scans across more than 50 individual sites across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Reducing inequalities is a priority for the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which will look at the targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival and develop interventions to tackle these. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients, including those with liver cancer, and will highlight how the Department will support the National Health Service to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England. This includes looking at inequalities related to geographic location.
For the first time ever, cancer survival rates in Cheshire and Merseyside have risen above the all-England average. This is largely due to a combination of targeted work, and a step-change in access to early diagnosis supported by a growing network of community diagnostic centres.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes a liver disease profile that compares local areas within England. Data on the number of people in the population, or the prevalence of people, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is not collected.
The liver disease profile provides NAFLD hospital admission and mortality rates. However, these rates underestimate the level of NAFLD in the population as the great majority of people with NAFLD never experience any symptoms from the condition. Only a minority may progress to more serious forms of the disease that require hospital admission. It is unclear what proportion of people experience this serious disease, and therefore we cannot make a reasonable estimate of the number of people with NAFLD.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the national cancer plan for England will address alcohol consumption as a modifiable risk factor for cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across the Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
The National Cancer Plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan and will seek to reduce risk factors. The plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention. This will include alcohol consumption alongside other risk factors, given that alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven types of cancer, namely: mouth; pharynx, or throat; larynx, or voice box; oesophagus; breast, in women; liver; and bowel, which includes colon and rectum cancer.
In relation to ensuring public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer, the Government has a responsibility to provide the most up to date health information to enable people to make informed choices about their drinking. Both the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines, and National Health Service webpage on alcohol, clearly state that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing seven types of cancer.
Published evidence on the impact of minimum unit pricing does not break down how the policy impacts alcohol-related cancer.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce alcohol consumption as a modifiable risk factor for cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across the Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
The National Cancer Plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan and will seek to reduce risk factors. The plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention. This will include alcohol consumption alongside other risk factors, given that alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven types of cancer, namely: mouth; pharynx, or throat; larynx, or voice box; oesophagus; breast, in women; liver; and bowel, which includes colon and rectum cancer.
In relation to ensuring public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer, the Government has a responsibility to provide the most up to date health information to enable people to make informed choices about their drinking. Both the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines, and National Health Service webpage on alcohol, clearly state that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing seven types of cancer.
Published evidence on the impact of minimum unit pricing does not break down how the policy impacts alcohol-related cancer.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of public awareness levels of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across the Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
The National Cancer Plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan and will seek to reduce risk factors. The plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention. This will include alcohol consumption alongside other risk factors, given that alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven types of cancer, namely: mouth; pharynx, or throat; larynx, or voice box; oesophagus; breast, in women; liver; and bowel, which includes colon and rectum cancer.
In relation to ensuring public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer, the Government has a responsibility to provide the most up to date health information to enable people to make informed choices about their drinking. Both the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines, and National Health Service webpage on alcohol, clearly state that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing seven types of cancer.
Published evidence on the impact of minimum unit pricing does not break down how the policy impacts alcohol-related cancer.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of minimum unit pricing on alcohol-related cancer incidence.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across the Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms.
The National Cancer Plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan and will seek to reduce risk factors. The plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention. This will include alcohol consumption alongside other risk factors, given that alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven types of cancer, namely: mouth; pharynx, or throat; larynx, or voice box; oesophagus; breast, in women; liver; and bowel, which includes colon and rectum cancer.
In relation to ensuring public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer, the Government has a responsibility to provide the most up to date health information to enable people to make informed choices about their drinking. Both the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines, and National Health Service webpage on alcohol, clearly state that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing seven types of cancer.
Published evidence on the impact of minimum unit pricing does not break down how the policy impacts alcohol-related cancer.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to consult on the potential merits of introducing mandatory standards for the labelling of alcohol products to include information on the risk of (a) drinking during pregnancy, (b) liver disease and (c) cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’, the Government has committed to strengthen and expand on existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages. The Plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
Currently there is voluntary guidance on communicating the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers' low risk drinking guideline, which recommends labels include info that to keep health risks from alcohol to a low level it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis, and to include a warning against drinking during pregnancy. The Department has commissioned a National Institute for Health and Care Research study on understanding the impact of alcohol calorie labelling on alcohol and calorie selection, purchasing, and consumption. This study is due to report in 2026.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) recognise and (b) address the increased risk of developing cancer associated with alcohol consumption.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Alcohol has been identified as a causal factor in more than 200 medical conditions, including mouth, throat, stomach, liver and breast cancers. The Government is committed to reversing the trend on alcohol-specific deaths and shortening the amount of time people spend in ill-health related to due to alcohol-related harm.
Under our Health Mission, the Government is committed to prioritising preventative public health measures to support people to live longer, healthier lives. The Department will continue to work across Government to better understand how we can best reduce alcohol-related harms. Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care- as well as prevention and research and innovation. The plan will build on the shift from sickness to prevention set out by the 10-Year Health Plan and will seek to reduce risk factors.
The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines state: “The risk of developing a range of health problems (including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast) increases the more you drink on a regular basis” and that “To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis”. The low risk drinking guidelines are available at the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80b7ed40f0b623026951db/UK_CMOs__report.pdf