Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Whately and Fiona Bruce

Tuesday 6th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have to get through this grouped set of questions, and it is going to take us well into topicals time; the Minister really does need to speed up on the answers.

[Fiona Bruce]

I thank the Minister for the social care winter plan announced two weeks ago. Can she tell me when this half a billion pound infection control fund will be released to councils covering constituencies such as mine in Congleton, in order to help protect residents and staff over the winter?

[Helen Whately]

The infection control fund is being distributed in two equal instalments, the first of which has already been paid to local authorities. My hon. Friend’s local authority, Cheshire East Council, will be receiving £4.7 million in total, so it should already have received £2.35 million to go towards the extra costs for care providers and others in infection prevention and control.

Alcohol Harm

Debate between Helen Whately and Fiona Bruce

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Bruce]

I thank the Minister for giving way and for stepping in to respond to the debate. She said that most people drink responsibly, but Drinkaware’s statistics, which are very worrying, show that 49% of men are classified as increasing or higher risk drinkers compared with 31% of women. That is a very high percentage.

[Helen Whately]

As I said, I fully appreciate and respect my hon. Friend for the huge amount of work that she does to urge us to recognise the harmful effects alcohol can have.

We know that alcohol misuse can have an impact on hospital care and demand. It contributes to a wide range of conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer and liver disease, as well as accidents, violence and self-harm. Some 12% to 15% of A&E attendances are alcohol-related, and alcohol is a causal factor in the patient’s diagnosis for more than 1.1 million hospital admissions every year. We absolutely take my hon. Friend’s concerns seriously.

As part of our NHS long term plan, alcohol care teams are being introduced in hospitals with the highest number of alcohol-related admissions. It has been shown that those teams significantly reduce avoidable bed days and re-admissions. The seven-days per week service at Royal Bolton Hospital saved 2,000 bed days in its first year, and modelling suggests that alcohol care teams in every non-specialist acute hospital will save 254,000 bed days and 78,000 admissions per year by their third year of operation.

Thanks to the personal testimony and campaigning by hon. Members present and by others who were unable to attend, the Government have invested £6 million to improve outcomes for children with alcohol-dependent parents. That funding includes £4.5 million for nine local areas to test innovative ways of working and to join up systems to support children and families—promising results are emerging in those areas. We have also allocated £1.5 million to voluntary sector organisations to build resources and capacity at national level, including helpline and contact-centre support through the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. We are also investing £6 million through a capital fund to enable local authorities to improve services and facilities for people with alcohol problems.

We continue to educate the public, ensuring that people are aware of the health risks of alcohol through local and national programmes, such as Public Health England’s One You campaign. The alcohol risk assessment in the NHS health check is used to inform a discussion on reducing the individual’s risk. New guidance encourages referral for liver investigation, where risk is identified. In addition, there is a commissioning for quality and innovation—CQUIN—scheme to incentivise increased cirrhosis and fibrosis tests for alcohol-dependent patients.

My hon. Friend also mentioned labelling. We have worked with industry to communicate the UK chief medical officer’s low risk drinking guidelines on the labelling of alcohol products. The Portman Group and others in the industry have made a commitment that labels will reflect the guidelines and we are closely monitoring progress.

We have also made a commitment in the prevention Green Paper to work with industry to deliver a significant increase in the availability of alcohol-free and low-alcohol products by 2025. A roundtable is being organised to take this work forward. Encouragingly, sales of no or low-alcohol beer are up 30% since 2016 and “nolo” alcohol is set to be one of the driving trends of 2020, although I am sure trends are being reviewed in the light of the pandemic.

Public Health England supports local authorities in their work of needs assessment and commissioning alcohol and drug prevention and treatment services by providing advice, guidance and data. PHE is developing UK-wide clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment. That work will promote good practice and improve the quality of service provision, resulting in better outcomes for patients.

We know that alcohol-exposed pregnancies present a significant public health problem across the country. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder can have a major impact on the early years development of children and their life chances. There is great work under way at local levels to tackle this. For example, the Greater Manchester health and social care partnership recently launched its #DRYMESTER campaign to raise awareness of drinking alcohol when pregnant. NICE are currently consulting on a draft quality standard on FASD. The voluntary sector also plays a vital role here. As part of the children of alcohol-dependent parents funding programme, over £500,000 is being made available to support work on FASD.

Finally, the good news from the budget is that £46 million in funding is being provided to improve support to individuals experiencing multiple complex needs. That includes tackling homelessness, reoffending and substance abuse, including alcohol misuse. In addition, as part of our rough sleepers programme, there is £262 million of new funding for substance misuse treatment services. When fully deployed, that is expected to help more than 11,000 rough sleepers a year. It will enable people to move off the streets and support them to maintain a tenancy for the long term. The funding complements £237 million announced by the Prime Minister for accommodation for rough sleepers, and a further £144 million for associated support services.

Several hon. Members raised minimum unit pricing, particularly the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson), who drew on her experience in Scotland. There are no plans to implement minimum unit pricing in England at present, but the Government continue to monitor the evidence as it emerges from Scotland and Wales.

Several hon. Members talked about the Government’s alcohol addiction strategy. As announced in November, we are undertaking a UK-wide cross-Government addiction strategy. Plans on the contents of the strategy are being developed and we will have more to say on this shortly.