Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 feasibility and cost implications of introducing rotating health warnings on alcohol products, including for long‑lifecycle products such as wine.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of using QR codes or digital labelling to supplement mandatory on‑label health warnings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether mandatory alcohol labelling requirements will apply to both on‑trade and off‑trade settings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to develop a definition of health warning for the purposes of alcohol labelling reforms.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan for England, if he will set out the formats for mandatory health warnings on alcohol labels that his Department is considering, including whether these include text‑only warnings, cancer‑specific messaging, imagery, rotating labels, and pictograms.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of mandatory alcohol health warnings for regulatory alignment with the EU, Ireland, and other trading partners.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
In both the Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England and the National Cancer Plan for England, the Government 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.
Department officials have recently completed a round of stakeholder engagement regarding the policy. We are working at pace to review all available and emerging evidence.
This work will inform the development assessment of policy options that will be set out in formal consultation which we are working towards opening in late 2026. International alignment will be considered as part of the process, taking into account the outcome of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (Agri-Food) Agreement negotiations with the European Union.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan for England, what empirical evidence his Department is reviewing to inform the design of mandatory alcohol health warnings, including those used in South Korea and Ireland.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are working at pace to review all available and emerging evidence. This includes data from a broad range of countries and engaging with a wide range of national and international stakeholders, including stakeholder feedback provided at and after the recent roundtables.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 encourage community organisations, schools, and workplaces in Farnham and Bordon to register their Automated External Defibrillators on the Circuit Defibrillator Network.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
In order to increase survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest NHS England has worked in partnership with St John’s Ambulance and others to increase access to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. Local ambulance trusts, charities, including St John’s Ambulance and the British Heart Foundation, and private providers deliver CPR training and training on the use of defibrillators both in the community and in schools, under the Restart a Heart programme.
The Government’s position is that local communities, including in Farnham and Bordon, are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating, and maintaining automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent AED database. Over 30,000 of these have been added in the past two years, many as a result of local community led action.
It is not uncommon for charities supplying defibrillators through a fund to require those defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit. Defibrillator charities also promote The Circuit on their website.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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) increase survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and (b) increase the availability of defibrillators in Farnham and Bordon.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
In order to increase survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest NHS England has worked in partnership with St John’s Ambulance and others to increase access to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. Local ambulance trusts, charities, including St John’s Ambulance and the British Heart Foundation, and private providers deliver CPR training and training on the use of defibrillators both in the community and in schools, under the Restart a Heart programme.
The Government’s position is that local communities, including in Farnham and Bordon, are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating, and maintaining automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent AED database. Over 30,000 of these have been added in the past two years, many as a result of local community led action.
It is not uncommon for charities supplying defibrillators through a fund to require those defibrillators to be registered on The Circuit. Defibrillator charities also promote The Circuit on their website.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 impact of proposed mandatory alcohol labelling reforms on producers, small businesses, supply chains and exporters.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The recently published National Cancer Plan reiterated the commitment made in Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, 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.
Department officials are currently exploring and assessing the potential options for and impacts of delivering this policy commitment, which includes reviewing all available and emerging evidence, and considering stakeholder feedback, having just completed a round of stakeholder engagement.
The Department is working towards opening a consultation in late 2026, setting out the options under consideration, for the public and business to respond to.