Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to consult on the potential merits of introducing mandatory standards for the labelling of alcohol products to include information on the risk of (a) drinking during pregnancy, (b) liver disease and (c) cancer.

In ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’, the Government has committed to strengthen and expand on existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages. The Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future

Currently there is voluntary guidance on communicating the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers' low risk drinking guideline, which recommends labels include info that to keep health risks from alcohol to a low level it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis, and to include a warning against drinking during pregnancy. The Department has commissioned a National Institute for Health and Care Research study on understanding the impact of alcohol calorie labelling on alcohol and calorie selection, purchasing, and consumption. This study is due to report in 2026.