Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to provide (a) support and (b) assistance to the families of chronic alcoholics.

Support and advice for families of chronic alcoholics takes place at a local treatment level. Public Health England produces guidance and data, for each local authority to support planning and commissioning of alcohol interventions. This guidance includes good practice for local authority and National Health Service joint planning of secondary care alcohol specialist provision as part of their wider integrated system of alcohol interventions. Further information is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-drugs-and-tobacco-commissioning-support-pack

This commissioning support pack helps commissioners and local authorities develop joint strategic needs assessment and health and wellbeing strategies to reduce the harm caused by smoking, drinking, substance use and misuse in both adults and children.

Additionally on 23 April the Government announced a package of measures designed to help identify at-risk children more quickly, and provide greater access to support and advice for both children and parents. The programme, backed by £6 million in joint funding from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions, is designed to help an estimated 200,000 children in England living with alcohol-dependent parents and develop interventions to reduce parental conflict within those families.