Alcohol Harm Commission: Report 2020

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Walmsley (LD) [V]]

My Lords, alcohol harm requires a cross-departmental response because of the range of harms that alcohol can cause. That is why I support the call of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, for a coherent, cross-government strategy.

The commission says, “It’s everywhere”, and it is. Drama can often explore complex issues in real life. The writers of Radio 4’s “The Archers” know that, hence their recent storyline about Alice’s struggles with alcoholism.

There are parallels with the obesity crisis, and there the Government have at last recognised that regulation has a part to play. The same goes for alcohol. We live in an obesogenic and alcogenic environment, and regulation can help. For example, people often do not know how much they are drinking or how strong a drink is. I have been asking for two decades for all alcohol to have its calories and alcohol units clearly labelled, but that still does not happen. I hope that will change now.

Services are thin on the ground. When police are called to an event of domestic violence, they should be able to link the perpetrator to therapeutic services and the children to social services. But this does not happen because the services are not there. This is crazy because, putting aside the human cost, money could be saved if they were. Are GPs and antenatal clinics confident to ask questions and refer people to alcohol services, where appropriate? Probably not.

Finally, the report says that, in Scotland, deprived groups are six times more likely to be admitted to acute hospitals and 13 times more likely to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals for alcohol problems than the least deprived groups. So the matter is often related to poverty. However, poor people can afford alcohol—because it seems to make things better; it is an escape from the misery of people’s lives. If we banish poverty, introduce minimum pricing and provide services, we can go a very long way to solving alcohol harms.