Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of alcohol industry messaging focused on personal responsibility in hindering progress on population-level measures to reduce alcohol harms.

The Government recognises alcohol as a public health issue which requires a multi-faceted approach that includes prevention, harm reduction and treatment. There are numerous independent resources available which frame alcohol through a public health lens and provide accurate and independent advice and guidance to increase awareness of risks and harms associated with alcohol consumption, protect health and promote wellbeing in relation to alcohol consumption, such as the National Health Service website, the All Our Health: Alcohol e-training in NHS England, and various pieces of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on alcohol.

The recently published 10-Year Health Plan includes a commitment 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. A mandatory requirement will bring alcohol labelling in line with existing health and nutritional labelling requirements for tobacco, food and alcohol-free drinks. This will ensure greater public awareness of the health risks of alcohol consumption and help consumers make more informed, healthier choices.