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t was unacceptable that the number of people receiving treatment for alcohol issues has been falling despite alcohol-related deaths increasing by almost 90 per cent over the last two decades , says a damning report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee .

Around 10m people regularly exceed the recommended alcohol guidelines , and around 600,000 are estimated to be alcohol dependent . However , a ‘ staggering ’ 82 per cent of dependent drinkers are not in treatment , despite success rates of around 60 per cent and clear evidence of cost effectiveness . Alcohol is linked to more than 100 illnesses and 42 per cent of violent crime , yet there has been no new alcohol strategy since 2012 , the committee points out . The Department of Health and Social Care ’ s ( DHSC ) inflationadjusted estimation of the annual total cost of alcohol to the NHS and society – £ 25bn – also dates back to the same year .

DHSC , as lead department , does ‘ not have sufficient understanding ’ of the total cost of alcohol harm , the document states . Drinking patterns were changing with the young ‘ generally drinking less ’ and older people drinking more . ‘ Based on analysis dating back to 2012 , the department put the annual cost of alcohol harm to the NHS at £ 3.5bn , and to wider society at around £ 21bn – or around £ 25bn adjusted for inflation . This analysis is over a decade out of date , and we are concerned that these estimates may not reflect the full scale of harm . The department ’ s understanding of the prevalence of dependency also dates back to 2018 – 19 . As overall owner for alcohol policy , it is for the department to coordinate a crossgovernment effort to understand how and where costs are rising to inform an effective response .’ DHSC needs to ‘ secure a consensus ’ and act on the best evidence for what works around price , availability and marketing , the report urges , as well as address barriers to accessing treatment and local variations in outcomes . The committee was ‘ surprised and disappointed ’ that DHSC was not taking a ‘ more proportionate and serious ’ approach to addressing the issues , it said . ‘ The harms from alcohol are appalling and the benefits

‘ The harms from alcohol are appalling and the benefits of every £ 1 spent on treatment are immediate and obvious .’

MEG HILLIER

of every £ 1 spent on treatment are immediate and obvious ,’ said committee chair Meg Hillier MP . ‘ But the government has had no alcohol strategy in place since 2012 and abandoned its latest effort in 2020 – just as deaths from alcohol began to rise sharply over the terrible , unacceptable toll it was already taking . What more does DHSC need to see to act decisively on this most harmful intoxicant ? In doing so it must give local authorities the certainty and stability over funding to maintain and improve the treatment programmes that are proven to work , and stop dithering over the evidence on industry reforms .’

The government ’ s record on alcohol harm was one of ‘ policies scrapped and promises broken ’, added committee member Dan Carden MP . ‘ In recent years , there has been a concerted and somewhat successful effort from the government to implement strategies aimed to tackle obesity , gambling , tobacco , and illicit drugs . Arguably the most harmful and legal drug , alcohol , remains unchallenged . During the public accounts inquiry , the department provided no credible justification as to why alcohol remains a conspicuous outlier .’

Alcohol treatment services report at https :// publications . parliament . uk / pa / cm5803 / cmselect / cmpubacc / 1001 / report . html