Alcohol Health Alliance UK

🚨Should we raise a glass or raise concerns? 🚨 A new blog from AHA policy manager, Lisa Erlandsen, reflects on what it's like to work in the alcohol-fuelled culture of Parliament, and asks: isn’t it time that the parliamentary workplace changed its relationship with alcohol to keep staff safe and create a healthy, inclusive workplace? "In my experience, Parliament was an alcohol-soaked environment where it was possible, permissible and acceptable to drink at any time of day or night." https://lnkd.in/eRdqgQ_J

🔎 Yesterday at the Health and Social Care Select Committee inquiry on the 10-year health plan, Beccy Cooper MP asked The Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP why MUP wasn’t in the 10-year health plan, despite the cost of alcohol harm to the NHS and peoples lives. Disappointingly, the response focussed on 'problem drinking' – common industry spin that frames alcohol harm as a minority issue. Alcohol harm is a whole society issue. We need an evidence based alcohol strategy to tackle alcohol harm nationally. #NHS10YearPlan #PublicHealth #AlcoholHarm #WesStreeting #DHSC #MinimumUnitPrice

Our new research launched for Alcohol Awareness Week reveals that⬇️ 📈Almost two thirds of UK workers report drinking alcohol for work-related reasons, with job stress, pressure and anxiety being the reason for increased consumption in the past 12 months. It's time to spark change in the workplace. With longer hours, more stress, the blurring of lines between work and home and workplaces putting alcohol, not people, at the centre of things, it's time we do something about it. 📢Let your employer know that a healthier, inclusive culture at work matters to you. It just takes a couple of minutes on our website and you can do it anonymously.👇 http://bit.ly/4lcz9Ox #AlcoholAwarenessWeek

Yesterday, the Drugs, Alcohol & Justice APPG (which we are proud to co-sponsor) launched its Action on Alcohol Harm report in Parliament. Huge thanks to Cat Smith MP, our CEO paul townsley, and Lisa Erlandsen from the Alcohol Health Alliance UK for their powerful contributions and calls to action. Our report calls for a cross-government Alcohol Strategy that will: 🟢 Expand treatment access – We need sustained, long-term investment in alcohol treatment and recovery, ending short-term funding cycles that undermine services. Treatment and recovery are rebuilding lives, families and communities stricken by alcohol harm across England right now. This also means improving local plans and ensuring better access for people who face multiple barriers to support. 🟢 Tackle health inequalities – We know where harms occur and who is most affected. Investing in prevention can stop problems before they start and help close the healthy life expectancy gap. We’re calling for targeted action in the communities with the highest rates of harm, tackling health inequalities, and supporting local ‘Marmot Places’ to address the social determinants of health. 🟢 Reduce crime and harm linked to alcohol – Alcohol is estimated to contribute to 39% of violent incidents in England and 49% in Wales, placing huge demands on police time. Tackling this means addressing people’s complex health needs and the underlying drivers of harm. We need a joined-up, public health-led approach that expands diversion schemes, strengthens treatment in prisons and post-release care, and invests in services that address the root causes of alcohol-related crime and harm Read the report. ⬇️   https://lnkd.in/e5pZTUJF Grahame Morris M.P. - WithYou - Joy Allen BA Hons MSc MBA - Via

📢 A historic first in Parliament yesterday. MPs debated alcohol and cancer in the House of Commons for the very first time – supported by us and World Cancer Research Fund. Led by Cat Smith MP, the message was clear: alcohol is a carcinogen, awareness is dangerously low, and the burden is growing. Every day, 46 people in the UK are diagnosed with an alcohol-related cancer. Yet despite cross-party concern and calls for urgent action, the government confirmed there are no plans for a National Alcohol Strategy for England. MPs called for bold, evidence-led measures: ✅ Health warnings on alcohol labels ✅ Marketing restrictions, including a watershed ✅ Minimum unit pricing ✅ Protection from industry interference As Cat Smith MP said: 🗣️ “Those are people’s lives. They are being chewed up and spat out by an alcohol industry whose main concern is delivering the highest profits to its shareholders and board members, at the expense of our national health." It’s time to put people before profit. 📺 You can watch the debate in full here https://lnkd.in/eQnZtCPR #AlcoholAndCancer #PublicHealth #AlcoholStrategy #HealthPolicy #CancerPrevention #Cancer

The Government’s long-awaited NHS 10-Year Plan has been published today – but it fails to include key policies to reduce alcohol harm, despite record-high levels of alcohol-related illness and death contributing to NHS pressures. Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, AHA Chair, welcomes the step to improve labelling but says it is "staggering" that the most evidence-based policies to reduce alcohol harm did not make it into the final plan. He has renewed calls for a national alcohol strategy that includes policies on price, availability and marketing together. Read the full statement: https://lnkd.in/ecDUdBhE #NHS10YearPlan #NHS #PublicHealth #AlcoholHarm

Last week, a leaked copy of the NHS 10-year plan revealed that the government was considering tighter alcohol marketing restrictions. In a letter to The Telegraph, Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, AHA Chair, outlined that this would be a "common sense move" to protect children and those in poorer communities where alcohol marketing is more prevalent. However, he urged The Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP to go further and introduce this alongside more targeted, well evidenced measures like Minimum Unit Pricing to have the biggest impact on preventing alcohol harm. https://lnkd.in/eH8NJpCh #NHS10YearPlan #PublicHealth #Prevention #AlcoholHarm

One in 50 adults in the UK are living with the 'triple threat' of preventable disease and early death due to tobacco, alcohol and overweight. New analysis with our partners Action on Smoking and Health (UK) and Obesity Health Alliance shows that 1 million adults live with all three risk factors and 10 million adults live with a combination of two or more, putting them at significant risk of disease like cancer, stroke and diabetes. It also shows strong associations between risk factors e.g. drinking alcohol can reduce inhibitions which can lead to smoking and different eating patterns. They therefore must be addressed in conjunction, not in separate silos as they currently are. This weekend we urged The Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP to use the opportunity of the upcoming NHS 10-year plan to set targets to cut smoking, alcohol consumption and excess weight, introducing minimum unit pricing of alcohol in England and extending the sugar tax to other unhealthy foods. 📰 Big thank you to The Guardian and The Independent for covering it. https://lnkd.in/eNJAsPyF https://lnkd.in/eV34zWmA

In the UK, alcohol is linked to around 17,000 new cancer cases every year – that’s 46 people every single day. Earlier this week, we joined World Cancer Research Fund to hand in an open letter and petition calling on the Prime Minister to introduce a National Alcohol Strategy to Prevent Cancer. One that tackles alcohol harm head-on through: 👉 mandatory health warnings highlighting cancer risk 👉 minimum unit pricing 👉 marketing restrictions 📰 Full story at https://lnkd.in/eFhasRMA #AlcoholHarm #PublicHealth #Cancer #CancerPrevention #AlcoholAndCancer #SirKeirStarmer #PrimeMinister #AlcoholLabelling #AlcoholMarketing #MinimumUnitPrice

📢 New parliamentary watch-dog report reveals alcohol’s continued role in misconduct in Parliament. The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) annual report shows that alcohol is still a common factor in poor behaviour in Westminster — from bullying and harassment to sexual misconduct. "Between April 2023 and March 2025, alcohol was a factor in almost one out of every five complaints investigated. Some of these complaints arose from external functions associated with parliamentary activities, while others were linked to incidents where colleagues socialised in bars. Alcohol was notably prevalent in the small number of complaints made under the Sexual Misconduct Policy, with respondents accused of inappropriate and unwanted touching. Other cases involving alcohol led to situations that escalated into hostility and aggression." It raises a serious question: how can we expect policymakers to tackle alcohol harm across the UK when it’s so embedded in their own workplace? It’s time for strong leadership and a serious review of alcohol’s role in Westminster — for the sake of a healthier, fairer, safer and more accountable government, and society at large. Full report👉 https://lnkd.in/e26Rmuqc