AHA launch Commission for Alcohol Harm evidence call

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) is supporting a Commission on Alcohol Harm, chaired by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and made up of a panel of expert practitioners, cross-party parliamentarians and health leaders.

The Commission on Alcohol Harm has been established to examine the current evidence on alcohol harm, recent trends in alcohol harm and the changes needed to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. The Commission will also examine the need for a new comprehensive UK-wide alcohol strategy, highlighting there has been no national alcohol strategy for England and Wales since 2012.

The Commission will hold three oral evidence sessions in England, Scotland and Wales in early 2020, and has launched a call for written evidence on a number of key issues, with submissions welcomed before the deadline of 12.00 noon on 17 February 2020.

Time for a national strategy?

In 2018 a surprise announcement that the Government were developing a new alcohol strategy appeared to come out of the blue, but as time passed it became apparent that any such plans had been shelved. Since 2012's alcohol strategy - which infamously announced minimum pricing only to a major u-turn in 2013 - England has had no dedicated alcohol policy plan. Instead, the 2016 'Modern Crime Prevention Strategy' set out alcohol-related crime objectives whilst certain health and treatment objectives include a renewed national CQUIN for IBA and Public Health England (PHE) guidance and support.

Many health and alcohol groups however have been critical of a lack of national strategy and a general Government policy approach seen to shy away from the policy levers thought to be most effective. In 2013 a 'Health First' alcohol strategy was proposed by a coalition of health bodies whilst in 2015 England was ranked lowest out of the four UK nations in a report assessing the extent of evidence based policy making. Meanwhile, Scotland has been widely applauded for its evidence-led approach resulting in MUP implementation in 2018 with early findings indicating support for its predicted effects.

 

In the run up to the 2019 snap election, the AHA released a manifesto for alcohol policy, and called on the public to email their MPs to support action to address harm. Not surprisingly in the context of British politics, alcohol policy hasn't appeared a significant priority, although the new Conservative Government's manifesto committed to make sobriety orders available to all courts in England and Wales and a new alcohol duty review. In this sense, it looks likely that those calling for an evidence based strategy, including pricing measures and reversal to cuts to treatment will have their work cut out in the years ahead.

Many health and alcohol groups however have been critical of a lack of national strategy and a general Government policy approach seen to shy away from the policy levers thought to be most effective. In 2013 a 'Health First' alcohol strategy was proposed by a coalition of health bodies whilst in 2015 England was ranked lowest out of the four UK nations in a report assessing the extent of evidence based policy making. Meanwhile, Scotland has been widely applauded for its evidence-led approach resulting in MUP implementation in 2018 with early findings indicating support for its predicted effects.

 

In the run up to the 2019 snap election, the AHA released a manifesto for alcohol policy, and called on the public to email their MPs to support action to address harm. Not surprisingly in the context of British politics, alcohol policy hasn't appeared a significant priority, although the new Conservative Government's manifesto committed to make sobriety orders available to all courts in England and Wales and a new alcohol duty review. In this sense, it looks likely that those calling for an evidence based strategy, including pricing measures and reversal to cuts to treatment will have their work cut out in the years ahead.