Harmful drinking appears to be increasing. The upward trend in alcohol-related death and hospital admissions accelerated in the pandemic.
The costs of this to drinkers, their families and society are significant. Alcohol costs the NHS an estimated £3.5 billion per year in England and costs an estimated £21 billion per year to society.
However, the local authority spend on alcohol services and the number of people going through treatment have decreased since responsibility for public health moved from the NHS to local authorities in 2014.
The Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Health and Social Care on treatment services in the community for alcohol dependency, including:
- trends in alcohol consumption and harm from drinking;
- how the commissioning and provision of alcohol treatment services have changed since the transfer of responsibility for public health; and
- spending on, access to, and outcomes from treatment.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6pm on Monday 20 February.
Please have a look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that has been published elsewhere.