Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle under-age alcohol use.

Guidance from England’s Chief Medical Officer for healthcare professionals is clear, an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option. The Department promotes this through online platforms such as the NHS.UK website, and the Talk to FRANK online resource. Local authorities promote these guidelines as part of their public health duties.

The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, Relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education, became mandatory in September 2020. Through this, education on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco became compulsory at state-funded primary and secondary schools, teaching children and young people how to manage influences and pressures, and keep themselves healthy and safe.

To deter individuals selling alcohol to a person aged under 18 years old, the maximum fine for the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children was increased from £10,000 to £20,000, under s 147A(8) of the 2003 Licensing Act.