Alcohol: Addiction

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Avebury]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are Public Health England’s plans for combatting alcohol addiction.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, Public Health England recognises that the harmful use of alcohol is a major health risk. The harm from alcohol is preventable; alcohol is one of seven key priorities that PHE is focusing on. It is implementing a programme to support national and local government, the NHS and partners to implement evidence-based policies and interventions. Included in this work is the reduction of alcohol addiction.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

Considering that three years ago, there were 1.1 million alcohol addicts in England and that abuse of alcohol was costing the nation £21 billion—and probably much more than that today—how can the Minister reconcile the fact that we spend only one-tenth as much on treating alcohol addiction as we do on patients suffering from drug addiction? Why is it taking until 2016 to update the guidance on access to mutual aid fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous, when the ACMD has shown that there are effective ways of combatting the addiction?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend was kind enough to give me advance warning of those questions. I have to say to him that we do not recognise the figures he quotes; nor do we think that the comparison he makes is like for like. In 2007, an estimated 1.6 million people had some degree of alcohol dependence, including those with a slight dependence. Of those, some 250,000 were believed to be moderately or severely dependent. The specialist treatment centre system continues to work well for many people. Many of the trends in terms of treatment are positive. As regards supportive relationships, I fully agree with what he said; they are a vital element in helping individuals build their own recovery. In October 2013, Public Health England produced a strategic action plan for supporting the treatment sector to strengthen its links with mutual aid organisations to ensure that everyone in treatment can benefit from that support.