HC Deb 19 January 1988 vol 125 cc646-7W
Mr. Hind

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the ministerial group on alcohol misuse has made, with particular reference to young people and alcohol; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. John Patten

The group has agreed on a wide range of measures to tackle alcohol misuse. Account was taken of the views of the working group on young people and alcohol, chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton, which reported to the Standing Conference on Crime Prevention last November. The measures planned include legislative changes as well as steps to secure better health education and more effective local action.

The main legislative proposals are to amend the Liquor Licensing Bill to tighten the offence of selling alcohol to under-age drinkers, to increase penalties for those found guilty of doing so and to make it an offence for wholesalers to sell alcohol to people under 18. There are also plans to require both pre-packaged and dispensed drinks to be labelled with their alcoholic strength and draft regulations will be circulated shortly. The Government welcome efforts already being made to promote non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beers and wines, but will be asking the industry to do more as well as to play its part in helping people understand the relative strengths of different drinks.

The Government will be asking the IBA and the Advertising and Cinema Advertising Standards Authorities in conjunction with the industry to re-examine their codes of practice on advertising alcohol. We see no need for a voluntary ban on advertising alcohol if these codes are tightened up and more effectively applied. We shall also be asking the BBC and IBA to review the way alcohol is presented to television viewers, both in individual programmes and cumulatively.

Effective health education is a priority. The health education bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and the Department of Health and Social Security, Northern Ireland will be taking the lead on this. But other Government Departments will also be playing their part; for example, the Department of Education and Science will shortly be launching a pack to help youth workers advise young people on substance misuse, including alcohol, and, with the Health Education Authority, considering a pack for use in schools.

Another major aim is to encourage effective local action. We look to local services and organisations to work together, identifying particular problems in their area and working out a programme for dealing with them. This is not just a matter for the health services. The social services, education and youth services, police, probation and magistrates all have an interest as do local businesses, the local drinks industry and many voluntary organisations. A great deal is already being done, but there is scope for better co-ordination and targeting of resources.

Our programme includes both steps which can be taken now and longer term measures. It links in with other Government policies on health education and the health service, on crime prevention and on drinking and driving to which both the Government and the police are devoting considerable resources with encouraging results. It is also consistent with our policies that consumers should be able to have greater freedom to make informed choices about what they are buying.