Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve coordination on reducing drug and alcohol harms.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published a 10-year drug strategy in December 2021 which sets out three core priorities: cutting off drug supply, creating a world class treatment and recovery system, and achieving a generational shift in demand for drugs. The strategy aims to reduce crime, drug related deaths, harm, and overall drug use and is backed by significant new investment. The Government has invested an additional £780 million in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, of which £532 million is dedicated to rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The drug strategy includes a specific target of getting 54,500 more people in drug and alcohol treatment between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Success is being measured against a system of local and national outcomes frameworks. More information on the strategy is available at the following link:
Delivery of the drugs strategy is a cross-government priority; the Joint Combatting Drugs Unit (JCDU) is a cross-Government team, based in the Home Office, that was set up to coordinate the drug strategy delivery across all relevant Government departments. The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the JCDU to work to achieve the aims of the drug strategy.
No specific targets have been set for the reduction of alcohol use in England; however, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. According to the 2021 Health Survey for England, around 80% of adults in England drink within these guidelines. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of acute hospitals in England with the greatest need. These specialist teams identify alcohol dependent patients admitted to hospital for any reason, start them on specialist treatment as inpatients, and facilitate them into community-based substance misuse treatment upon discharge.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support people with (a) drug and (b) alcohol addictions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government published a 10-year drug strategy in December 2021 which sets out three core priorities: cutting off drug supply, creating a world class treatment and recovery system, and achieving a generational shift in demand for drugs. The strategy aims to reduce crime, drug related deaths, harm, and overall drug use and is backed by significant new investment. The Government has invested an additional £780 million in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, of which £532 million is dedicated to rebuilding local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The drug strategy includes a specific target of getting 54,500 more people in drug and alcohol treatment between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Success is being measured against a system of local and national outcomes frameworks. More information on the strategy is available at the following link:
Delivery of the drugs strategy is a cross-government priority; the Joint Combatting Drugs Unit (JCDU) is a cross-Government team, based in the Home Office, that was set up to coordinate the drug strategy delivery across all relevant Government departments. The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the JCDU to work to achieve the aims of the drug strategy.
No specific targets have been set for the reduction of alcohol use in England; however, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. According to the 2021 Health Survey for England, around 80% of adults in England drink within these guidelines. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is investing £27 million to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of acute hospitals in England with the greatest need. These specialist teams identify alcohol dependent patients admitted to hospital for any reason, start them on specialist treatment as inpatients, and facilitate them into community-based substance misuse treatment upon discharge.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the cost to policing of alcohol abuse.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to reducing alcohol-related crime.
A 2012 calculation estimated that alcohol related harm costs society £21bn a year. However, we have not calculated an estimate of the cost to policing of alcohol abuse.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a commission on addressing alcohol harm.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Work is already ongoing on a range of other strategies and plans to reduce alcohol harm. The Government takes a wide-ranging approach to addressing alcohol-related harms through commitments in the Prevention Green Paper to increase the availability of no- and low-alcohol alternatives, the establishment of alcohol care teams in the 25% acute hospitals in England with the greatest need through the NHS Long Term Plan, and improvements to the alcohol and drug treatment system through the 10-year Drug Strategy.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish an alcohol harm reduction strategy in this Parliament.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Work is already ongoing on a range of other strategies and plans to reduce alcohol harm. The Government takes a wide-ranging approach to addressing alcohol-related harms through commitments in the Prevention Green Paper to increase the availability of no- and low-alcohol alternatives, the establishment of alcohol care teams in the 25% acute hospitals in England with the greatest need through the NHS Long Term Plan, and improvements to the alcohol and drug treatment system through the 10-year Drug Strategy.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of community sentences were completed (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully due to (i) the committal of an additional offence and (ii) a breach of sentence stipulations in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have increased funding for the Probation Service by an additional £155m a year to recruit staff and to deliver better and more consistent supervision of offenders in the community. The data shows that since 2018, the proportion of successfully completed community sentences has increased from 70% to 74%. Please find the full dataset requested in the accompanying table.
Delivering public protection and cutting crime is not just about custody. There is persuasive evidence that suspended and community sentences are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending and promoting rehabilitation. Community sentences can include a range of robust requirements to punish the offender, protect the public and deliver rehabilitation. Electronic monitoring of curfews, exclusion zones, attendance at appointments, location monitoring and alcohol bans are all available requirements which the courts can use. Courts can also impose up to 300 hours of unpaid work to make sure that offenders are visibly and publicly making reparations for their crimes. Any breach of these requirements could see them returned to court and face immediate custody.
Please note that where there is a significant risk of harm to an individual or where the offender has breached an order of the court, the courts will retain full discretion to impose a sentence of immediate custody.
Data sources and quality:
The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Source:
National Delius case management system.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to tackle the impact of alcoholism on young people (a) nationally and (b) in Romford constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Alcohol dependence is rare in young people under the age of 18 years old, although they may be drinking problematically. Young people may also experience second-hand harms of parental alcohol dependence.
The most effective and sustainable approach to tackling alcohol dependence in young people is building resilience through giving them a good start in life, the best education possible and keeping them safe, well and happy. Alcohol education is part of the compulsory health education curriculum for all state funded schools, following the introduction of statutory relationships, sex and health education in England in September 2020.
Through the cross-Government Drug Strategy, the Department has allocated £532 million of additional funding through to 2024/25, to support improvements in substance misuse treatment, including facilitating 5,000 more young people into age-appropriate alcohol and drug treatment by 2024/25.
Local authorities can invest their allocation in options from a ‘menu of interventions’, some of which include strengthening the services available to children and families. Local authorities across England indicated Drug Strategy spend for 2022/23 between £2.4 million and £5.6 million on interventions focused on, or that offer support for, families affected by parental substance misuse. Local plans from Havering include developing Hidden Harm provisions within substance misuse services for young people, and enhancing support to carers and children by investing in a Family Practitioner.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating the positions of National Clinical Director for (a) gastroenterology and (b) liver disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A National Clinical Director provides clinical advice and leadership on the NHS England Internal Medicine Specialised Services portfolio, which includes specialised gastroenterology and liver disease. A National Speciality Advisor provides clinical advice more specifically to the hepatobiliary and pancreas programme.
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme has invested in clinical leadership in gastroenterology, which is one of its priority workstreams. The programme will be establishing a liver disease programme in 2024/25, including recruiting to a clinical lead role.
The National Clinical Director for Cancer is leading work on on-the-spot liver scans, that has already found that around one in ten people in communities visited have advanced liver damage that needs further monitoring or treatment as it could lead to liver cancer.
NHS England is funding preventative interventions that support individuals to reduce the harm caused by alcohol use and obesity. To support this work, NHS England has invested in a National Clinical Director for Diabetes & Obesity and a National Speciality Advisor for alcohol dependence.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital admissions were due to alcohol consumption in each year since 2019-20; and what steps his Department is taking to help tackle this issue.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The following table shows recorded hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions (conditions solely caused by alcohol) and alcohol-related conditions (conditions partially caused by alcohol):
Year | Number of admissions, England, persons | |
Alcohol-specific conditions | Alcohol-related conditions (broad) | |
2022/23 | To be released February 2024 | |
2021/22 | 342,795 | 948,312 |
2020/21 | 347,761 | 814,595 |
2019/20 | 318,596 | 976,423 |
Source: OHID, Local Alcohol Profiles for England.
We have a strong programme underway to address alcohol-related harm, including investing £27 million of funding to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of hospitals in England with the greatest need. This is expected to prevent a further 50,000 hospital admissions over five years.
We are also working to reduce excess alcohol consumption and associated harm among people who regularly drink above the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines (over 14 units per week) by facilitating substitution of standard strength alcohol with no and low-alcohol alternatives. On 28 September 2023, we launched a consultation on updating our labelling guidance for no and low-alcohol alternatives, to improve clarity of consumer information, and to support innovation in the sector. This will provide greater choice for consumers to help them moderate excess alcohol consumption. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 5 of the British Medical Journal article entitled Impact of Universal Credit in North East England, published in 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that article's findings on the impact of Universal Credit deductions on (a) incidences of self-harm, (b) suicidal ideation, (c) alcohol and substance-use, (d) debt and (e) use of foodbanks in the North East of England.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No assessment has been made.