My Lords, I rise to support Amendments 259 and 296 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff. I speak on behalf of my noble friend Lord Shipley, who, unfortunately, cannot be here today but has added his name to those amendments.
The amendments are on the Marshalled List to push the Government to move faster on something that the public want that has now been shown to be effective, particularly alcohol labelling. A recent YouGov poll showed that 71% of the British public want to know the number of units in an alcoholic drink, 61% want to know the calorific content and 53% want to know the amount of sugar in alcohol. There is clear public support for this, so it is interesting that we have not moved faster.
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Not only is there public support, but a recent study in Canada last year showed that consumers exposed to health warnings on labels were three times more likely to be aware of drinking guidelines, and were more likely to know about the link between alcohol and
cancer and to understand the daily rate of safe alcohol intake, according to the Canadian guidelines. It is quite interesting that, when you look at the areas where this was introduced against the control areas, you see that people were not only aware of the safe levels and the health risks but were also more likely to purchase less alcohol. It was not just effective because people understood the risks but, in areas of Canada where these labels were introduced against the control group of provinces where they were not, there was a reduction in the amount of alcohol sold. In both public support and effectiveness, the labelling of alcohol works. The Government should work towards that at speed.
On Amendment 296, I say that alcohol treatment is essential to support those with alcohol dependency towards recovery. It is vital for reducing emergency service call-outs, unnecessary hospital admissions and avoidable deaths. Pre pandemic, only one in five dependent drinkers was believed to be in treatment, leaving a shocking 80% lacking healthcare. Probably the reason for this is that, between 2016 and 2018, more than two-thirds of local authorities in England cut their alcohol treatment budgets, with 17 imposing cuts greater than 50%. I declare my interests as in the register, particularly as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I know that Ministers at the Dispatch Box normally say that this is to be determined by local authorities, but it is happening because local authorities have had their budgets cut so significantly that they are struggling to provide statutory services. It is not a choice; it is a necessity to make sure that certain statutory services are provided.
Each treatment is cost-effective and brings significant benefits. For an average local authority, every 5% reduction in yearly spending on alcohol treatment would see an extra 60 alcohol-related hospital admissions per 1,000 of the population. There are also significant pressures on the workforce who deal with treatment. Most strikingly, there is a lack of addiction psychiatry trainees in England.
I say to the Minister that these amendments are effective and are required. They not just give people information so that they can make informed choices but, as the Canadian example shows, reduce the amount of alcohol that people purchase. They are vital now that we have a real understanding of the economic, social and health effects of a lack of investment in treatment services. If they are invested in, they can bring not just economic but social and health impacts.