Alcohol: Addiction

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend is absolutely right. More than 90% of liver disease is due to three main, preventable and treatable risk factors—alcohol, hepatitis B and C, and obesity. Alcohol accounts for 37% of liver disease deaths, but obesity is indeed a major factor in this.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain to the House why, when his Government came to power, they tore up the draft strategy on liver disease that had been prepared by the previous Government? What are they going to do to put one in place and, given the complaints we have heard, make sure that the growth in the number of deaths is reversed?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, Public Health England has a programme of work to ensure that all the bases are covered. It is producing a report for government that will be published later this year. Over the next 18 months, there will be a longer programme of work on such things as a framework for liver disease, setting out the evidence base for the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol and using alcohol as the trail-blazer for a new whole-system approach that establishes what works and is clear on the return on investment, to enable government to take action based on evidence.