Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on steps to tackle alcohol misuse.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol prevention and treatment services and commissioning interventions and services based on that need. Public Health England (PHE) works closely with local authorities – via nine regional centres – by providing advice, support and evidence-based guidance in a range of public health issues, including alcohol misuse.

An example of this is the support PHE gives to local authority commissioners with the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) process and their local joint health and wellbeing strategies. The annual JSNA support pack from PHE covers four topics including alcohol harm prevention, treatment and recovery. For more information, see the pack which is available online at:

http://www.nta.nhs.uk/healthcare-JSNA.aspx