Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Student Brand Ambassadors on raising awareness of methanol poisoning among young travellers.

Student Brand Ambassadors (SBAs) have played a valuable and strategic role in extending the reach of our safety messaging to young travellers. Through the use of social media, they have delivered key messages on methanol poisoning and drink safety in a voice that is both authentic and relatable. This peer-led approach has proven to be an effective tool in promoting safer travel campaign messages.

Our SBAs create targeted posts focused on drink safety, including the risks associated with methanol poisoning. They have recently increased their social media presence to include TikTok. In June-July this year, this resulted in a 300 per cent increase in the number of people our messaging reached. This impressive increase shows the value in tailored focused messaging across the full range of social media. A full analysis of the SBA programme over the summer period will be conducted late Autumn.