The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish an update to the Government’s alcohol strategy, Cm 8336, published in March 2012.
Mike Penning
The Government is continuing to work to achieve the outcome of the Alcohol Strategy published in 2012. There are no plans to publish an update at the current time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-16.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Department has responsibility for policy on supporting the children of people with alcoholism.
Mr Oliver Letwin
Department for Education have the overarching responsibility for children in terms of support, including children’s social care and schools.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish his Department’s estimate of the average length of time a person waits between referral for and commencement of alcohol treatment services.
Jane Ellison
Data is not collected in the format requested, however data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System shows that of the 83,771 people receiving a first alcohol treatment intervention in 2013-14, 77,629 (93%) started within three weeks of referral. It should be noted that some people will receive more than one intervention at the same appointment, so the number of first interventions is somewhat higher than the number of referrals for the same year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total number of referrals for alcohol treatment services was in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Jane Ellison
Data on the number of referrals to alcohol treatment is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the UK of alcoholism.
Jane Ellison
We do not have reliable estimates of the specific cost of alcoholism but the estimated cost of broader alcohol-related harms to society is £21 billion.
The £21 billion figure is from a 2012 estimate, which formed part of the Department’s written evidence to the Health Select Committee on 19 July 2012.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s strategy is for supporting children who are the children of alcoholics; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
Parents play a crucial role in how their children develop and behave and act as role models for them and we recognise that parental alcohol dependency can limit parenting capacity and this can have serious consequences for children.
A number of initiatives to ensure that children have the best possible start in life have been introduced:
– the national Healthy Child Programme supports children’s health and development, by providing parenting support and health promotion guidance; and
– the expanded Troubled Families programme launched in April 2015 offers support on health issues to up to 400,000 families, including for alcohol and drug misuse.
We have given local authorities more than £8 billion in funding over three years so they can put the right services in place to help their communities.
Public Health England’s role in supporting local authorities undertake their public health functions is vital in reducing the levels of alcohol harm and supporting young people with parents who are alcohol dependent.
As part of this Public Health England funded the “Alcohol and other Drug use: The Roles and Capabilities of Social Workers”. This guidance sets out the key roles for social workers in relation to substance misuse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of children who are the children of alcoholics who go on to misuse alcohol.
Jane Ellison
This data is not available centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of which health and wellbeing boards are most effective in reducing misuse of alcohol; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
This data is not available centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which 50 areas have the highest incidence of the misuse of alcohol; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
We do not have any reliable data centrally for how areas are broadly affected by alcohol misuse.
We do have data from the public health outcomes framework indicator for hospital admissions where the main reason for admission was alcohol-related. Data for 2013-14 for each local authority is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on steps to tackle alcohol misuse.
Jane Ellison
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol prevention and treatment services and commissioning interventions and services based on that need. Public Health England (PHE) works closely with local authorities – via nine regional centres – by providing advice, support and evidence-based guidance in a range of public health issues, including alcohol misuse.
An example of this is the support PHE gives to local authority commissioners with the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) process and their local joint health and wellbeing strategies. The annual JSNA support pack from PHE covers four topics including alcohol harm prevention, treatment and recovery. For more information, see the pack which is available online at:
http://www.nta.nhs.uk/healthcare-JSNA.aspx
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