Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent guidance he has issued to pregnant women on the effect of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines published in August 2016 recommends that for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to a minimum. In March 2017, the Department issued guidance to industry setting out how the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines could best be communicated on the labels of alcoholic drinks. This included specific advice on the communication of warnings not to drink alcohol during pregnancy. In light of the Chief Medical Officers’ guidance the National Health Service public facing website has updated their guidance and the Start4Life advice has also been updated. These can be viewed here at the following links:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/alcohol-medicines-drugs-pregnant/

https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/pregnancy/alcohol/

Public Health England and NHS England as well as local commissioners are already undertaking awareness and education on the prevention agenda on the dangers of drinking any alcohol while pregnant such as through the Maternity Transformation Programme. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also updated its guidelines ‘CG62 Antenatal care for uncomplicated pregnancies’ to reflect the Chief Medical Officers’ low risk guidelines that the safest approach is abstinence, and that where mothers are worried, they should seek advice from their midwife or general practitioner. This can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-consumption-advice-on-low-risk-drinking