Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will assess the main consequences of disparities between the UK Chief Medical Officer's low risk alcohol guidelines and comparative international guidelines.

The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines are linked to UK–specific consumption and harm data.

The aim of the guidelines is to ensure the UK public have the most up to date information to help them understand the risks alcohol may pose to their health and to make decisions about their consumption in the light of those risks.

It should be noted that comparisons between countries can be misleading because there are large variations in how different countries define ‘low risk’ drinking, and even how they define a standard drink.