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Alcohol

The hon. Gentleman is right that one of the problems is that we have a lot of legislation that is not used or enforced. We do however need to change the Licensing Act 2003. One of the most important changes would be to allow more say by local residents. At the moment, we have a mismatch between the night-time economy, and licensees who are not responsible, and local residents. In some areas, the licensees are very responsible—I do not want to tar everyone with the same brush—but we need more democratic accountability on this issue. This is a massive issue in terms of its impact on health and in its complexity. The danger with a debate such as this is that anyone who is watching or who reads the report in Hansard tomorrow will think that we have not addressed huge chunks of it. We have not touched in detail on the issues for people with mental health problems who have a dual diagnosis with alcohol and/or drug abuse. We have not touched on the issue of alcohol-related violence towards children, to which the Committee refers in the report. There is a considerable amount of domestic violence towards children, women and, indeed, men that is associated with alcohol. We have not touched upon the need to improve our children's education. There is a lot of talk about children's physical health, obesity, sport in schools and making children less obese, but there is not a great deal of talk about children's mental and emotional health and well-being. We have not talked about the need to improve young people's self-esteem and raise their confidence. Why do they go out on the town and fill their throats, stomachs and heads with alcohol? It is about self-esteem and how they view themselves. We need to ensure that young people grow up with a strong sense of themselves, and with the high self-esteem, confidence and skills necessary to make good decisions about themselves and their health. They have to deal with complex issues, and they need the help, support and education to give them the skills to make those complex decisions. That is particularly hard because one of the joys of being a young person—I am not old enough yet to have forgotten—is the wonderful immortality that one feels. That same point is made in discussions on sexual health. I listen to health professionals saying, "Young people need to be more responsible", but young people love being irresponsible! It is hard to make young people behave responsibly when, to some extent, they are revelling in that sense of growing freedom and irresponsibility. So we have to be very sophisticated and clever about how we change those attitudes and get young people not to go out on the town and do what all their friends are doing. They need a very sophisticated set of skills, so we need to get this right. Government action will focus on stopping drinking among those who are already drinking too much, but at the same time we must get those public health messages right. If we are serious about improving the nation's public health, we must view reducing alcohol misuse as one of the key drivers of change. Absolutely no one in the House wants to prevent people from having a good night out or a friendly drink. However, we must ensure that the Government send a clear message to the public about the damaging effects that the abuse of alcohol can have. I am not convinced that minimum pricing is the right approach; we need a targeted approach, including targeted duty. Furthermore, as I have said, it is crucial that funding for public health is ring-fenced and delivered by public health boards, about which my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire has talked. Public health boards would work with local authorities, the police and all the other local players, because to improve the public's health, including in terms of alcohol consumption, we also need social and economic change.