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Alcohol

I agree entirely. Any parents in this day and age who are giving their children cans or bottles of alcohol, then dropping them off in a place where there is a culture of drinking, are not doing their children any favours. It could well be argued that what they are doing is potentially shortening the lives of their own children. That is not a responsible position for any parent to take. It was not the position that I took as a parent, although I cannot tell my children what to do now: they are all grown up and two have children themselves. Parents who do what my hon. Friend describes are doing no one, especially not their children, any favours, but it is happening. I do not have the statistics in front of me, but it is a well known fact that under-age drinkers get much of their alcohol not just from somebody aged 18 buying it from the local shop and then handing it on to them, but via their family. Parents should be well aware of that. We said in the report that the policy must be aimed at the millions who are damaging their health by harmful drinking, but it is time to recognise that problem drinkers reflect society's attitude to alcohol. There is a good deal of evidence to show that the number of heavy drinkers in a society is directly related to average consumption. Living in a culture that encourages drinking leads more people to drink to excess. Changing the culture will require a raft of policies. This afternoon I am speaking about one of them—pricing—but there are many other aspects that need to be addressed. One of the most interesting statistics reported to the Committee was that if people who drink in this country—there are quite a lot of us—drank no more than the number of units per week recommended for women and for men, alcohol consumption would be reduced by about 40 per cent. The alcohol industry was not happy to engage in the debate about that, but if those statistics are true, as we believe they are, they indicate the extent to which people in the UK drink beyond the guidelines recommended to protect their health. Let me deal with the Government response to the report. As I said earlier, they are not in a position to respond in the usual form, but my hon. Friend the Minister put out a press release. I hope she was not planning to read it out this afternoon, as I shall quote extensively from it. She stated in response to our report:""Alcohol is an increasing challenge to people's health. We"—" that is, the Government—""are working hard to reverse the trend and are constantly seeking better ways to tackle it."" She continued:""Since 2004 this Government has adopted a strategic approach to tackle alcohol harms, from under-age drinking and binge drinking through to longer-term harmful drinking."" That is true. It is also true that the tide is going against us. The policy is not working and there is no plan to make it work. The Minister went on to say that""current levels of alcohol-related hospital admissions, crime, and deaths are unacceptable."" That is a very positive response to the publication of our report. The press release continued:""Much more can, and will, be done to turn this around, but the change won't happen overnight"." Everybody accepts that. None the less, I was pleased that my hon. Friend went on to say:""New and strengthened campaigns from this month will raise public awareness further on the link between drinking too much and poor health, and on the harm that alcohol can do to children."" She pointed out that the Government""have already taken new powers to tackle the worst irresponsible promotions such as 'drink as much as you like for £5'."" I understand that the Home Office is taking action against that. First-year students at university—I have one in my family—are offered the chance to go into a nightclub and drink as much alcohol as they like for the price of the £10 admission fee. It is extraordinary that alcohol is so easy to access. When I was young, I lived in a working-class culture where young men went out drinking beer, even before they were 18. We would do that one or two nights a week. Although I was working, I could not afford to go out more than that. The idea that young people now can go out and, for £10, drink as much alcohol as they want—spirits or beer, as I understand it—is frightening. Young people do not know everything, although they think they do from the age of about 16 onwards. The damage that such promotions may be doing to them, which may not be found out for years, is frightening. I am pleased to say that since our report, the Government are taking action, and I know that they were working on the matter before.