Alcohol: Binge Drinking (Hansard, 16 October 2003)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the interim analytical report published by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit in September highlighted the scale of alcohol misuse in England. The National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England will be published later this year and will contain measures to tackle the range of harms caused by alcohol misuse, including binge drinking. As this is a devolved issue, the governments in Scotland and Wales are also working in this area and the Strategy Unit is in close touch with them.

§ Lord Turnberg
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that response. I commend the Government for taking this matter seriously. The burden of heavy alcohol consumption on society and health is very serious indeed. It is enormous and costs several million pounds per year. With one in three men and one in five women drinking beyond the recommended safe limits, it is a particular problem.
Does the Minister agree that among the several measures which need to be taken, one simple one would be the labelling of alcoholic drinks with recommended safe limits? Does he also agree that the practice of some Premier League football clubs of marketing their own brand of alcoholic drinks, including whisky, sends quite the wrong message to the young?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the noble Lord makes two very important points. These are issues to which the strategy unit will undoubtedly return when it produces its final report. Given the state of some parts of the football industry, far be it from me to suggest that football clubs relinquish any revenue through promotions, but this is an issue which needs to be addressed.

§ Lord Walton of Detchant
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware of the recent disturbing report by a distinguished gastro-enterologist, Dr Christopher Record, in Newcastle upon Tyne of a marked increase in the number of young women suffering from liver damage as a consequence of high alcohol consumption; such young women being under the misapprehension that they are safely able to drink as much as young men? What action will the Government take to target that particular vulnerable group?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, we are well aware of the vulnerability of all in our society to excessive drinking. This is one of those issues on which we shall have to make recommendations, particularly in terms of health promotion and of encouraging moderate and sensible drinking.

§ Viscount Bridgeman
My Lords, this problem cuts across three departments: the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Does that not indicate the need for joined-up thinking across those three departments? Will the Government consider setting up such a committee?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I would go a little further than the noble Viscount and suggest that this subject touches more departments than he indicated. I refer, for instance, to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has important liaison with local authorities. I think that the Department of Transport and the Department of Trade and Industry would have something to say. Yes, we are well aware of the need for joined-up thinking. That is precisely why the Strategy Unit was placed in charge of producing a report and a strategy across government. For those reasons, all of those departments have been involved in discussion and consultation to produce the interim report and no doubt will be involved in discussions to provide the background for the final strategy report.

§ Lord Avebury
My Lords, rather than waiting for the report of the Strategy Unit, why do the Government not set a good example by reducing the consumption of alcohol at their own social occasions? Is the Minister aware that I have been unable to discover by means of Questions how much alcohol is consumed by government departments when they act as hosts, and that the Prime Minister refused to answer a letter I wrote to him asking for the drinks bill of 10 Downing Street?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I was not aware of that. I am grateful to the noble Lord for his 1099 advice and information on this matter. Clearly, it is important for us all in politics to set a good example as regards drinking, but not to moralise.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, now that more women are going into the Armed Forces and trying to compete with men, how much education is given to women about the dangers of binge drinking and competing with men?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I could not put a quantity on that. I would have thought that it makes good sense in educational terms that those in government and in public life ensure that we make everyone in society aware of the dangers of binge drinking. This is a very important issue. It is for that reason that the Strategy Unit was given the important job of looking at ways in which we can improve public information on the subject. I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her comments.

§ Viscount Falkland
My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the term "binge drinking" has been somewhat misused? It usually relates to licensing arrangements of one kind or another, and we have a change imminent. In fact binge drinking—to anyone who knows anything about the history of this country—has been part of our drinking habits for hundreds of years. It is a cultural matter: people drink to get drunk very quickly. In Italy, for example, they do not do so. So a great deal of education in cultural change is needed. That takes a long time. Do the Government have any plans to address that particular aspect of the issue?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I simply say to the noble Lord that he would find it useful, if he has not done so already, to look at the Strategy Unit's interim report. It seeks to address exactly that issue. The noble Lord makes a good point; that the culture that surrounds drinking varies across countries. One issue of concern, certainly here, has been binge drinking associated with the drinking-up period in public houses.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, the point made by both the noble Lord, Lord Walton of Detchant, and the noble Baroness, Lady Masham, was about women competing with men. In the past we have again and again had very good health warnings explaining that women can drink only half the quantity of alcohol that men can. Why is it that we are no longer getting the same amount of health education on this point?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, with respect, we are pumping out a great deal of information. The Government spend about £100 million per year on treatment and advice on problems associated with alcohol abuse. We shall continue to do that. As I have said on many occasions during this series of exchanges, part of the purpose behind the Strategy Unit's report 1100 is to ensure that we get that message over because we obviously need to repeat it and to ensure it gets to the right place.

§ The Earl of Onslow
My Lords, does the Minister agree that we drink rather less than the French? In my youth there was an advert in the French underground, which stated, "Jamais plus d'un litre de vin par jour", which was put up by M. Mendes-France, the then Prime Minister. For the Labour Front Bench, who possibly do not speak such appalling French as I, that means, "Never more than one litre of wine a day". But that is an enormous amount of wine to drink. Even our binge drinkers on average do not drink that much. Is he also aware that when Garibaldi's British contingent went to Italy, they had to be sent back for binge drinking because they always got totally off their trolleys? There is nothing new about the British behaving in this disgusting way.

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I am always taken apart by what the noble Earl has to say on these matters. He has great historical knowledge and wisdom in that respect. I was not there during the time of Garibaldi and did not have the good fortune to read the adverts on the Paris Metro, but I think that we must take binge drinking seriously. It is a serious subject, even in your Lordships' House.

§ Lord Dholakia
My Lords, does the Minister accept the figure produced by the British Crime Survey that 40 per cent of serious crime in this country is committed by people while under the influence of alcohol? Could he identify whether specific projects are being run in our prisons to address that particular problem?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the noble Lord is right: it is undoubtedly the case that alcohol has a very important relationship with acts of disorder in our community and society. It is for that reason that the Government have taken swift and keen action with their range of anti-social behaviour measures. I agree with the noble Lord that it is important that prison education includes an element on abuse of drugs and drink.