Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) ONS data showing an increase in the relative affordability of alcohol compared to fruit juice, and (2) the implications of this trend for their planned duty freeze on alcoholic drinks.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government will continue to assess the impact of its decisions on alcohol duties, including the duty freeze until 1 August 2023, and aims to balance its public health objectives with support for businesses.
The alcohol duty reforms will tax all alcohol according to strength for the first time from 1 August 2023. This will make low cost high ABV drinks, such as white ciders, more expensive and reduce the affordability of drinks more associated with alcohol harm.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that alcohol harm rates do not increase following the increase in relative affordability of alcohol compared to fruit juice and other non-alcoholic drinks, given the link between alcohol affordability and harm.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to monitor the impact of the alcohol affordability on alcohol consumption and associated harms. The reforms of alcohol duty will, for the first time, tax all alcohol according to strength, helping to target problem drinking by taxing products associated with alcohol-related harm at a higher rate of duty. These reforms will be implemented from 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether His Majesty’s Treasury has done any economic modelling on the impact of the new alcohol duty bands on the consumption of alcohol; and if so, whether this modelling predicts that they would (1) incentivise alcohol drinkers to drink lower-alcohol drinks, and (2) reduce their overall consumption of alcohol.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The UK’s complex and archaic alcohol duty system has been widely criticised by independent commentators including the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Institute of Alcohol Studies, and the World Health Organization, with many of them advocating for a strength-based system.
We are undertaking the biggest reform of alcohol duties for over 140 years and moving to a system where all alcohol will be taxed by strength. We are also introducing a new lower duty band for products between 1.3% and 3.4% ABV. As under the current duty system, products below 1.2% ABV will not incur alcohol duty. Higher ABV bands will have higher rates of duty, to reflect their greater potential for harm.
In October 2020, the Government launched a call for evidence which sought the views of stakeholders on how the system could be reformed. This closed in November 2020 with 106 responses. In parallel to the call for evidence, the Government also undertook a series of roundtables with groups of stakeholders, including public health groups, trade associations and economists. After analysing the responses to the call for evidence, the Government then launched a consultation on alcohol duty reform at Autumn Budget 2021. This consultation closed in January 2022 and received over 350 responses. Responses and evidence are published on the government website.
Similarly, the Government considered evidence which suggested that heavier drinkers consumed proportionately higher ABV drinks. For example, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published analysis that suggested that adults drinking 40 units per week consumed drinks at 18% ABV average, whereas those drinking 10 units per week consumed drinks at 14% ABV average. By failing to tax products consistently in line with their ABV, the duty system is not effectively targeted at the most harmful drinking.
The new alcohol duty system has been widely welcomed by public health stakeholders on this basis and is in line with WHO’s recommendation to base a duty system on alcoholic strength. Evidence suggests alcohol harm is linked to affordability, and the Government is addressing this through the alcohol duty reform.
These reforms have public health at its heart and the new strength-based duty system will incentivise consumption of low alcohol drinks, whilst reducing the consumption of stronger drinks more associated with alcohol harm. The Government has committed to evaluating the policy and its impacts after implementation.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing the Scottish Parliament with powers to impose a levy on the profits made by supermarkets on the minimum unit price for low-cost high-strength alcohol.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the honourable member to the answer that I gave to the House on 19 December.
As part of our alcohol duty review, the Government aims to reduce administrative burdens on businesses. The reforms ensure that stronger products, which are associated with higher levels of harm, pay proportionately more duty.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) update the policy paper entitled Alcohol Strategy, published on 23 March 2012, CM 8336 and (b) commission a new alcohol strategy; and what recent assessment he has made into the potential merits of implementing minimum unit pricing.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no current plans to introduce a standalone alcohol strategy. We have an existing agenda on tackling harms from alcohol, including an ambitious programme to establish specialist Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals.
The Government published ‘From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives’ on 6 December 2021. While the focus of the Strategy is drugs, commissioning and delivery of drug and alcohol treatment services are integrated in England. This means that implementation of the Strategy will also benefit people seeking alcohol treatment, through mechanisms such as new commissioning standards, plans to build back the workforce and new investment to rebuild local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England.
We look forward to seeing the findings from the evaluations of impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland and Wales. We will consider those findings in detail once available.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 3 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton and others on an Independent Review of alcohol harm.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We replied to the hon. Member on 21 December 2022.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of commissioning an independent review into alcohol harms.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No specific assessment has been made. However, in 2016 the former Public Health England published an assessment of the effectiveness of policies to reduce alcohol-related harm in England. This included a review of the evidence on the public health burden of alcohol in England and policy responses to reduce the health, social and economic harm.
Alcohol-related harms are being addressed through commitments in the ‘Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s’ green paper, the NHS Long Term Plan and improvements to the substance misuse treatment system through the drugs strategy ‘From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives’.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to give the Scottish Parliament powers to impose a levy on the profits made by supermarkets on the minimum unit price for low-cost high-strength alcohol.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As part of our alcohol duty review, the Government has confirmed that the UK will move to a taxation system which taxes all alcohol products according to strength to meet its public health objectives, whilst ensuring it does not increase administrative burdens on businesses. The reforms ensure that stronger products, which are associated with higher levels of harm, pay proportionately more duty.
We keep the alcohol duty rates under review through the yearly Budget process and aim to balance public health objectives with support for businesses.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it mandatory for supermarkets to provide and publish data on alcohol sales.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As part of our alcohol duty review, the Government has confirmed that the UK will move to a taxation system which taxes all alcohol products according to strength to meet its public health objectives, whilst ensuring it does not increase administrative burdens on businesses. The reforms ensure that stronger products, which are associated with higher levels of harm, pay proportionately more duty.
We keep the alcohol duty rates under review through the yearly Budget process and aim to balance public health objectives with support for businesses.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
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.