Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the estimated cost of hospital admissions relating to alcohol consumption was for the NHS in (1) 2004/05 and (2) 2014/15.

Figures of the cost to the National Health Service of alcohol misuse are not available on an annual basis.

The most recent estimate from Public Health England (PHE) for 2014 is that alcohol costs the NHS around £3.5 billion per annum. The Department estimates that just under half of that is due to alcohol related inpatient admissions to hospital. This information is available in the public domain, as evidenced by PHE’s report Alcohol and drugs prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?, Public Health England. A copy is attached.