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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the changes to alcohol duties announced in the Budget statement on 27 October will have on alcohol-related (1) hospital admissions, and (2) deaths.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the changes to alcohol duties announced in the Budget statement on 27 October will have on alcohol-related (1) hospital admissions, and (2) deaths.
The reform of alcohol duties will simplify duty rules and tax drinks in proportion to their alcohol content. This should create a financial incentive for manufacturers to reformulate their products, therefore giving consumers a greater choice of lower-strength products. This would support individuals to drink within the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of these proposals on consumption and associated harms.
My Lords, I regret that the Minister has not actually answered the Question. All the evidence indicates that if the price of alcohol goes up, people drink less and are healthier. If the price of alcohol goes down or the duty goes down, people in fact drink more. More people go into hospital and more people die. Instead of relying on the industry to decide whether manufacturers will reformulate their drinks, as the Minister just indicated, the Government should take a firm lead and put the health of the nation first. They should not be handing out a £3 billion cut in this way. Will the Minister please go back to the Chancellor and tell him that we need a policy that will lead to better health, not worse?
My Lords, I regret that the Minister has not actually answered the Question. All the evidence indicates that if the price of alcohol goes up, people drink less and are healthier. If the price of alcohol goes down or the duty goes down, people in fact drink more. More people go into hospital and more people die. Instead of relying on the industry to decide whether manufacturers will reformulate their drinks, as the Minister just indicated, the Government should take a firm lead and put the health of the nation first. They should not be handing out a £3 billion cut in this way. Will the Minister please go back to the Chancellor and tell him that we need a policy that will lead to better health, not worse?
Many public health officials, for many years, have criticised the system of alcohol taxation, particularly the EU’s system of taxation. Now that we have left the EU, we are free to set our own law in this area. Given the criticisms from the World Health Organization and many other think tanks, we can now set taxation based on the volume of alcohol.
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the response by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 January (HL Deb, col 1043), what instructions they have given Public Health England about monitoring and assessing the efficacy of minimum unit pricing in Scotland; and when will Public Health England be reporting any such findings.
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the response by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 January (HL Deb, col 1043), what instructions they have given Public Health England about monitoring and assessing the efficacy of minimum unit pricing in Scotland; and when will Public Health England be reporting any such findings.
Public Health England have not been formally commissioned to undertake a review of the evidence of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) in Scotland. However, as part of their role in gathering evidence across areas to feed into the policy making process they are monitoring progress of MUP in Scotland and working closely with partners there to understand the impact of the policy. The Scottish Government is taking forward a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of introducing MUP. The Scottish legislation also includes a sunset clause and the Scottish Government are required to present a report on the impact of MUP to their Parliament five years after implementation. which will be published in 2023.
My Lords, we are working to reduce alcohol-related harms with the NHS long-term plan, the prevention Green Paper, support for children of alcohol-dependent parents and action to tackle alcohol-related violent crime. Together, this work constitutes an effective package to address alcohol abuse. We are not planning a stand-alone strategy.
My Lords, I am grateful for the reply but not its content. It is very disappointing. Last year the Government were moved to produce a strategy on drugs, which hopefully will be effective. However, the problems with drugs are minimal compared to the problems with alcohol. Does the Minister recall that in 2011, the coalition Government produced a widely welcomed strategy on alcohol? It fell apart in 2015, primarily because the Government could not carry the drinks industry with them. We had a responsible deal which proved to be irresponsible. Are we not going to face the same problems again? Unless the Government bring the threads together to produce a strategy with real teeth, nothing will change.
My Lords, I am grateful for the reply but not its content. It is very disappointing. Last year the Government were moved to produce a strategy on drugs, which hopefully will be effective. However, the problems with drugs are minimal compared to the problems with alcohol. Does the Minister recall that in 2011, the coalition Government produced a widely welcomed strategy on alcohol? It fell apart in 2015, primarily because the Government could not carry the drinks industry with them. We had a responsible deal which proved to be irresponsible. Are we not going to face the same problems again? Unless the Government bring the threads together to produce a strategy with real teeth, nothing will change.
We now have in place a wide-ranging approach that negates the need for a separate, stand-alone alcohol strategy. We have announced a new addictions strategy and will roll out the electronic monitoring of alcohol abstinence requirements for those whose offending is fuelled by alcohol.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to divert funding currently used for methadone treatment to initiatives to support people to abstain from opiates.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to divert funding currently used for methadone treatment to initiatives to support people to abstain from opiates.
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Lords question for short debate on what assessment they have made of the trends in different types of addiction in England and Wales.
Lords question for short debate on what assessment they have made of the trends in different types of addiction in England and Wales.
My Lords, is there not a case for a wider review of addictions in general? Public Health England did a review of alcohol and the Government ignored the report. A public health review in this area may be ignored entirely and there is nothing to make the Government do anything about it. We have just heard about what is happening with gambling; the Government have succumbed to the blandishments of the gambling industry and are not doing what many people in this House wanted on it. It is another addiction. Should we not have a review right across the board on addictions?
My Lords, is there not a case for a wider review of addictions in general? Public Health England did a review of alcohol and the Government ignored the report. A public health review in this area may be ignored entirely and there is nothing to make the Government do anything about it. We have just heard about what is happening with gambling; the Government have succumbed to the blandishments of the gambling industry and are not doing what many people in this House wanted on it. It is another addiction. Should we not have a review right across the board on addictions?
The Government are taking steps to deal with addiction in a number of areas. We are obviously focusing on prescription drugs and the dependence on them. I hope the noble Lord will welcome the review and have the opportunity to contribute to it, as I know he feels strongly about these issues.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the NHS of their decision to freeze duties on alcohol other than white cider.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the NHS of their decision to freeze duties on alcohol other than white cider.
The costing of Budget measures includes only the direct consequences of those measures.
The government does not attempt to quantify the indirect effects of Budget measures, such as the impact on the NHS, as those are dependent on many dynamic factors that are not feasible to accurately model.
This is accordance with the methodology endorsed by the Office of Budget Responsibility.
HM Treasury does consult with the Department of Health, the NHS and other public health bodies on alcohol duties, and will continue to do so.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, prior to the suspension of the alcohol duty escalator announced in the Budget Statement, they conducted a risk assessment of the effects and consequences for the NHS; and if so, what that risk assessment showed.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, prior to the suspension of the alcohol duty escalator announced in the Budget Statement, they conducted a risk assessment of the effects and consequences for the NHS; and if so, what that risk assessment showed.
The government ended the alcohol duty escalator for beer in 2013, and for cider, wine and spirits in 2014.
A Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN) was published alongside these measures which set out the government’s assessment of the impacts of ending the beer duty escalator. The relevant TIINs for the 2013 changes are attached.
For the 2014 changes please see Section A63 of the Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates document which is also attached.
A separate assessment of the specific impact on the NHS was not undertaken.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many English patients were on the methadone treatment programme in (1) 2005, (2) 2010, and (3) 2015; in each of those years (a) what was the cost of the programme, (b) how many deaths from methadone abuse, whether of those on the programme or...
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many English patients were on the methadone treatment programme in (1) 2005, (2) 2010, and (3) 2015; in each of those years (a) what was the cost of the programme, (b) how many deaths from methadone abuse, whether of those on the programme or...
Data on the number of English patients on the methadone treatment programme is not collected in the format requested.
Information on the cost of local drug treatment programmes is not collected centrally.
Deaths where methadone was among the substances mentioned on the death certificate are published by Office for National Statistics for residents of England and Wales for each calendar year, based on deaths registered in the year. These were 220 in 2005, 355 in 2010,and 434 in 2015.
The Adult substance misuse statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) 2015-16 report shows that 39% of opiate users who were reviewed after six months of treatment had not used opiates in the previous four weeks. Of those who reported that they were injecting at the start of treatment, 55% reported not injecting in the previous four weeks when reviewed after six months. This data is not available in a comparable form for previous years. A copy of the report is attached.
It should be noted that these are not outcomes for every opiate user in treatment, but specifically for those reviewed at six months within that year, and that not all opiate users are injecting.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to produce an alcohol strategy.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to produce an alcohol strategy.
Although alcohol consumption has fallen in recent years, the harms associated with alcohol remain too high. The Government remains committed to reducing alcohol-related harms and continues to deliver actions from our Modern Crime Prevention Strategy which identified alcohol as a driver of crime.
The 2016 UK Chief Medical Officers low risk drinking guidelines provide the public with the most up to date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking. The Government continues to keep alcohol policy under review.
Lords question for short debate on what is their most recent estimate of the cost of alcohol abuse to the National Health Service; and what steps they are taking to reduce those costs.
Lords question for short debate on what is their most recent estimate of the cost of alcohol abuse to the National Health Service; and what steps they are taking to reduce those costs.
I am grateful for much of what the Minister has said in her reply. I am, however, disappointed that the Government have chosen to delay until we hear the outcome of the Scottish case. Is she aware that the report indicates that we now have over 1 million people a year going into hospital due to alcohol-related illnesses of one sort or another and that alcohol is now the biggest killer of males between 15 and 49? It is time that we started taking some action on this. Will the Minister indicate that discussions will take place on the report, what the timetable will be and what progress is likely, and not simply wait for the outturn in Scotland? Is she aware that if we move ourselves we would help Scotland rather than hinder it?
I am grateful for much of what the Minister has said in her reply. I am, however, disappointed that the Government have chosen to delay until we hear the outcome of the Scottish case. Is she aware that the report indicates that we now have over 1 million people a year going into hospital due to alcohol-related illnesses of one sort or another and that alcohol is now the biggest killer of males between 15 and 49? It is time that we started taking some action on this. Will the Minister indicate that discussions will take place on the report, what the timetable will be and what progress is likely, and not simply wait for the outturn in Scotland? Is she aware that if we move ourselves we would help Scotland rather than hinder it?
I concur with much of what the noble Lord has said. It is frustrating to have to do so but it is important to wait for the outcome of the Scotch Whisky Association case in Scotland. I totally agree that alcohol-related admissions
to hospital are worrying, as is the fact that alcohol is now the leading health risk factor for people between 15 and 49, which is a very wide age group. That is not to mention the cost to the public purse.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the findings of the review by Public Health England on the consequences of alcohol abuse, whether they will implement minimum unit pricing of alcohol.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the findings of the review by Public Health England on the consequences of alcohol abuse, whether they will implement minimum unit pricing of alcohol.
My Lords, we welcome Public Health England’s comprehensive alcohol evidence review. It provides evidence of the most effective policies for reducing alcohol harm in the English context. We will be considering the evidence set out in the review over the next few months. The introduction of minimum unit pricing in England and Wales remains under review, pending the outcome of the legal case between the Scotch Whisky Association and the Scottish Government and the impact of the implementation of this policy in Scotland.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the independent review on alcohol by Public Health England to be completed.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the independent review on alcohol by Public Health England to be completed.
The Public Health England alcohol evidence review and peer review process is now complete and we expect this to be published shortly.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the independent review on alcohol by Public Health England to be made available to the public.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the independent review on alcohol by Public Health England to be made available to the public.
The Public Health England alcohol evidence review and peer review process is now complete and we expect this to be published shortly.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of why the estimated number of English hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption has doubled between 2004/05, when the Licensing Act 2003 entered into force, and 2014/15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of why the estimated number of English hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption has doubled between 2004/05, when the Licensing Act 2003 entered into force, and 2014/15.
We have made no such assessment.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the estimated cost of hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption was for the NHS in (1) 2004/05 and (2) 2014/15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the estimated cost of hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption was for the NHS in (1) 2004/05 and (2) 2014/15.
Figures of the cost to the National Health Service of alcohol misuse are not available on an annual basis.
The most recent estimate from Public Health England (PHE) for 2014 is that alcohol costs the NHS around £3.5 billion per annum. The Department estimates that just under half of that is due to alcohol related inpatient admissions to hospital. This information is available in the public domain, as evidenced by PHE’s report Alcohol and drugs prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?, Public Health England. A copy is attached.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new action they propose to take to halt and reverse the upward trend in the number of English hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption, and who will be responsible and accountable for the implementation of such actions.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new action they propose to take to halt and reverse the upward trend in the number of English hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption, and who will be responsible and accountable for the implementation of such actions.
The new UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines provide the public with the most up to date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking. A copy of the guidelines is attached.
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) will be reviewing the advice on higher risk drinking, in light of the new guidelines, at a United Kingdom level through a consensus process in partnership with the Devolved Administrations.
PHE is using its One You campaign to motivate people to take steps to improve their health through tackling the main risk factors such as smoking, inactivity, obesity, and alcohol. One You provides a Drinks Tracker app to help drinkers identify risky behaviour and lower their alcohol consumption.
Local government has been given the responsibility to improve people’s health. This includes responsibility for tackling problem drinking and commissioning appropriate prevention and treatment services for their local population’s needs. Over the next five years, we will invest more than £16 billion in local government public health services.
NHS England’s NHS Five Year Forward View commits the National Health Service to support national action on alcohol. The National Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payments framework was set up in 2009-10 to encourage services providers to continually improve the quality of care provided to patients and to achieve transparency. To help deliver their commitment to reduce harmful alcohol consumption NHS England has published a CQUIN to incentivise interventions to reduce risky behaviours, and prevent ill health through alcohol and tobacco consumption. This has a number of components, including alcohol screening, brief advice and referral to specialist services.