Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for alcohol (a) harm and (b) addiction services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, we have invested £27 million for an ambitious programme to establish specialist Alcohol Care Teams in the 25% hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol dependence-related admissions, alcohol-mortality, and deprivation. This is estimated to prevent 50,000 admissions over five years.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning services to prevent, mitigate and treat alcohol-related health harm, based on local need. As part of the Government’s 10-year drug strategy, we have made a record £532 million of additional investment through to 2024/25 to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. This funding is in addition to the Public Health Grant and will improve the capacity and quality of drug and alcohol treatment. This funding is being targeted to areas of highest need first.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of alcohol harm.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting the most vulnerable and at risk from alcohol misuse, as well as raising awareness of its harms. To keep health risks at a minimum, the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Officer’s low risk drinking guidelines recommend not regularly exceeding 14 units a week. The guidelines have been developed on the basis that people have a right to accurate information and clear advice about alcohol and its health risks.
The Department continues to promote the guidelines in England through online platforms, and by encouraging producers to reflect the guidelines on the labels of alcoholic drinks. Local authorities also continue to promote these guidelines as part of their public health duties.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussion with her international counterparts on best practice in the management of alcohol use.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with other health departments on global health issues. The Government was actively involved in the work by the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop an action plan to strengthen the implementation of the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol. We were pleased that the action plan was adopted at the 75th World Health Assembly in May 2022. The United Kingdom will continue to work with the WHO and member states on alcohol harm reduction, and to share our learning.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce hypothecated taxes for (a) smoking products, (b) vaping products and (c) alcohol to pay for health services related to those products.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government already has duties in place on tobacco and alcohol which help to fund important public services, including the NHS, education and defence.
The Government has also delivered on its commitment to review the outdated and complex alcohol duty system and introduced the biggest reform of alcohol duties for 140 years. As of 1 August 2023, all alcohol is now taxed by strength, putting public health at the heart of alcohol duty. This is helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty.
With regard to vaping, the UK Government thinks there is a strong case to take action to reduce the affordability of vapes and is continuing to consider options, including a new duty, to achieve this.
The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will raise duty on (a) tobacco products, (b) vapes and (c) alcohol in the forthcoming Budget.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government already has duties in place on tobacco and alcohol which help to fund important public services, including the NHS, education and defence.
The Government has also delivered on its commitment to review the outdated and complex alcohol duty system and introduced the biggest reform of alcohol duties for 140 years. As of 1 August 2023, all alcohol is now taxed by strength, putting public health at the heart of alcohol duty. This is helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty.
With regard to vaping, the UK Government thinks there is a strong case to take action to reduce the affordability of vapes and is continuing to consider options, including a new duty, to achieve this.
The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the main causes of surgical fires and burns across NHS England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Surgical fires and burns occur in, on, or around a patient undergoing surgery. Risk factors include use of ignition sources, for example, electrical surgical equipment and lasers, and fuel sources, for example, alcohol preparation solutions that are accidentally allowed to pool on or under the patient.
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and to ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
We are informed by NHS England that no assessment has been made of the impact of surgical fires or burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - 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 surgical fires and burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Surgical fires and burns occur in, on, or around a patient undergoing surgery. Risk factors include use of ignition sources, for example, electrical surgical equipment and lasers, and fuel sources, for example, alcohol preparation solutions that are accidentally allowed to pool on or under the patient.
Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and to ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
We are informed by NHS England that no assessment has been made of the impact of surgical fires or burns on the length of patients' hospital stays.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the harm caused by alcohol use; and what steps she taking to address that harm.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of and continues to act to reduce levels of harm caused by alcohol use. The Department continues to promote the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines in England through online platforms, and local authorities continue to promote them as part of their public health duties. This provides the public with the most up-to-date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking, including the health harms of alcohol consumption. The Government has also published guidance and worked with the alcohol industry to ensure that alcohol labels reflect these guidelines for drinks produced after September 2019. This ensures consumers have the best available information at the point of purchase or consumption.
The Government takes a wide-ranging approach to addressing alcohol-related harms, including the establishment of alcohol care teams in the 25% acute hospitals in England with the greatest need through the NHS Long Term Plan, and improvements to the alcohol and drug treatment system through the 10-year Drug Strategy.
Although the primary focus of the strategy is drugs, implementation of the strategy is also benefitting people seeking alcohol treatment, through mechanisms such as new commissioning standards and plans to build back the drug and alcohol treatment workforce. £532 million of additional funding is being invested in local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England between 2022/23 and 2024/25, to increase the number of people in substance misuse treatment by 54,500 over this period.
The Department launched its drug and alcohol treatment press partnership campaign on 18 January 2024. The content in the campaign will aim to build awareness of the effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment, how it can help and how to access it. The Press Partnership is a programme run by the Department which works with over 350 national, regional, local and multicultural print newspapers, with a reach of over 34% of adults in England, or 17.7 million.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to increase awareness of (a) alcohol harm and (b) support services for alcohol abuse.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of and continues to act to reduce levels of harm caused by alcohol use. The Department continues to promote the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines in England through online platforms, and local authorities continue to promote them as part of their public health duties. This provides the public with the most up-to-date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking, including the health harms of alcohol consumption. The Government has also published guidance and worked with the alcohol industry to ensure that alcohol labels reflect these guidelines for drinks produced after September 2019. This ensures consumers have the best available information at the point of purchase or consumption.
The Government takes a wide-ranging approach to addressing alcohol-related harms, including the establishment of alcohol care teams in the 25% acute hospitals in England with the greatest need through the NHS Long Term Plan, and improvements to the alcohol and drug treatment system through the 10-year Drug Strategy.
Although the primary focus of the strategy is drugs, implementation of the strategy is also benefitting people seeking alcohol treatment, through mechanisms such as new commissioning standards and plans to build back the drug and alcohol treatment workforce. £532 million of additional funding is being invested in local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England between 2022/23 and 2024/25, to increase the number of people in substance misuse treatment by 54,500 over this period.
The Department launched its drug and alcohol treatment press partnership campaign on 18 January 2024. The content in the campaign will aim to build awareness of the effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment, how it can help and how to access it. The Press Partnership is a programme run by the Department which works with over 350 national, regional, local and multicultural print newspapers, with a reach of over 34% of adults in England, or 17.7 million.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the introduction of a hypothecated alcohol tax.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care regularly engages with HM Treasury on issues of taxation in relation to public health. The Government has already delivered on its commitment to review the outdated and complex alcohol duty system and introduced the biggest reform of alcohol duties for 140 years. As of 1 August 2023, all alcohol is now taxed by strength, putting public health at the heart of alcohol duty. This is helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty.