§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that the spending on alcohol prevention and treatment is commensurate with the level of alcohol-related harm. [HL618]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathIt is difficult to arrive at an estimate of the cost to society attributable to alcohol-related harm, as there are a number of widely different factors which need to be taken into account. The majority of the funding for prevention and treatment is spent via the general budgets of primary care trusts and local social service departments, which is consistent with provision being determined following a local consideration of need. This method of funding means that it is not possible to give details of the amount spent on the prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse. However, latest estimates indicate that £95 million per year is spent on alcohol treatment in England, and that most of this funding is provided by the Government.
§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What estimate they have made of the number of deaths directly attributable to alcohol misuse in each of the years from 1994 to 2001. [HL619]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathInformation collected centrally about the cause of deaths does not systematically record whether a death is attributable to alcohol misuse. A number of health and lifestyle factors can contribute to diseases such as cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease, and it can be difficult to isolate alcohol consumption as the most important of these factors.
Estimates of the number of deaths range between 5,000 and 40,000 deaths per annum in England and Wales, reflecting the wide range of methods of calculation used in studies covering the number of alcohol related deaths. Consequently the trend data requested are not available.