News

A rise in alcohol duty in the upcoming Budget could help fund thousands of new jobs in health and public services, say top health experts.

In a letter to the Chancellor, the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), a coalition of more than 50 leading UK health organisations, call for an increase in alcohol duty by 2% above inflation to ease pressure on public finances, tackle the harm caused by alcohol and fund our NHS.

Recent cuts to alcohol duty have cost the government more than £1 billion every year – enough to fund the salaries of 40,000 nurses or 29,000 police officers.

Current levels of duty – and the constant pressure to reduce them further – have been immensely costly to the Government and wider society.

Research from the University of Sheffield shows that cuts in alcohol duty since 2012 have led to:
• 1,969 additional deaths
• 61,386 additional hospitalisations
• £317 million in additional costs to the NHS
• 111,062 additional criminal offences
• 484,727 additional days of workplace sickness absence

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “Alcohol is 64% cheaper than it was thirty years ago, and its availability at these prices is encouraging more of us to drink at unhealthy levels. It is no coincidence that deaths from liver disease have increased in line with alcohol’s affordability in the UK.  In order to protect the future health of our society, the Government must take action now by increasing duty on alcohol and investing that money into our over-stretched and underfunded NHS and public services.”

Helen Donovan, Professional Lead for Public Health at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Alcohol abuse continues to do serious damage to people’s lives and it is often society’s most vulnerable who are hit hardest by our failure to confront it.  With alcohol-related admissions to hospitals have rising year-on-year in England and thousands of lives continuing to be cut short, it is clear that urgent action is needed to tackle the ill-effects of alcohol abuse.  Increasing the duty on alcohol sales is just one step required to relieve pressure on NHS services; this revenue could be invested in nursing staff and services based within communities that aim to change cultural and social attitudes towards alcohol and provide world-class health protection programmes.“

BMA Board of Science Chair Professor Dame Parveen Kumar said: “Despite having a wealth of evidence to show the devastating impact that alcohol has on health, families and society, nowhere near enough is being done to reduce the risks to the public’s health.  As doctors, we see the detrimental impact that alcohol has on health on a daily basis. Not only the impact on physical health, being linked to conditions such as cancer and liver cirrhosis, but also the profoundly destructive impact it can have on mental health.  At a time when NHS resources and staff are in short supply, the extra funding raised from the increase in alcohol duty could go directly back into NHS services, as well as funding local alcohol prevention and support programmes.  Increasing duty on alcohol is one of the wider measures that the Government must take if we are to stop alcohol resulting in more lives being ruined, or worse still, lost.”

Professor Julia Sinclair, Chair of the Addictions Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “As a frontline addiction psychiatrist I see first-hand the damage alcohol causes to the health of individuals, their families and wider society.  Alcohol related hospital admissions have reached record levels, costing the NHS millions, and comes at a time when devastating cuts have been made to addiction services.  The Chancellor should increase alcohol duty to protect people’s health and to reduce the increasing pressures on the NHS.”

Dr Zulfiquar Mirza, Alcohol Lead at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “We are concerned by the harm attributable to alcohol in our society, particularly those relating to short- and long-term health, crime and disorder. The brunt of the short-term health consequences of excess and irresponsible alcohol consumption falls on the ambulance service and the UK’s already hard-pressed Emergency Departments.  Many alcohol related attendances to the ED are preventable and hamper the ability of our emergency care systems to look after other patients, so we welcome the Alcohol Health Alliance’s move to increase alcohol duty.”

The Commission on Alcohol Harm is today launching a call for evidence as part of its inquiry into alcohol harm and the changes needed to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.

The Commission will hold three oral evidence sessions across the UK later this year, and has launched a call for written evidence, with submissions welcomed before the deadline of 12 noon on 17 February 2020.

The Commission is interested in receiving evidence from academic researchers, charities, healthcare professionals, professional bodies, commissioners and those affected by alcohol harm in their personal, professional or family life.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: “The Commission on Alcohol Harm is an extremely important investigation into how all parts of our society are impacted by our drinking habits.

“We need to have voices representing the wide range of experiences of alcohol harm; including those on the front-line, researchers and those with first hand experience of alcohol harm. Together, we can build a solid case for change.”

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Chair of the Commission on Alcohol Harm, said: “Alcohol plays a huge part of the everyday lives of many people across the UK, and therefore it is important to examine its impact on our society more closely. We need to understand how our drinking habits affect our own health as well as the way alcohol can affect those around us.

“We welcome the input of those who face the effects of alcohol harm in their professional or personal lives in order to help us make meaningful recommendations on a vision for the future.”

To share your views, please submit written evidence to harms_commission@ahauk.org  by 17 February 2020.

Visit the AHA website for submission guidelines: http://ahauk.org/commission-on-alcohol-harm/  .

The tenure of the current Communications and Website Lead will come to an end in January 2020 and as such, BASL are now seeking expressions of interest for this post.

The Communications and Website Lead is elected by the membership to serve for a period of up to three years and may be re-elected once. 

In addition to his/her role on the Governing Board, the post holder is responsible for working with the BASL Secretariat on any website upgrades, to increase BASL’s presence on social media and to work with the committee on developing the BASL member’s portal. A working knowledge of Twitter is desirable.

The post holder will be registered with Companies House in the UK as a Director of BASL and registered with the Charities Commission as a Trustee.

Nomination Process
Please send your nominations, clearly stating the position that your nomination is for, to the BASL Secretariat at judy@basl.org.uk by the deadline of 17:00 on Friday 13th December 2019.

Candidates wishing to be considered for this post require one BASL member to propose them and a second BASL member to confirm their suitability for the role in writing.

If more than one candidate is nominated, the Secretariat will arrange for an election of all members. He/she will be elected by simple majority of those members voting. A personal statement, containing no more than approx. 300 words, will be required from the candidate should an election need to take place.

The newly elected post will be announced in the January 2020 newsletter to members.

If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact judy@basl.org.uk .

The UK NSC has opened the annual call for new screening topics. It provides every individual, group or organisation with the opportunity to submit a proposal for a new screening programme. This window of opportunity closes at midnight on 4th December 2019.

If you wish to propose a new screening topic that is not already on the UK NSC list, the guidance, submission form and an example proposal are all available at the end of this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process/appendix-d-how-to-submit-a-proposal-to-the-uk-nsc .

Please ensure you read through the guidance and use the template submission form which will guide you through all the requirements of a proposal.

For more information about the annual call please read our blog:
https://phescreening.blog.gov.uk/2019/09/05/annualcall2019/ 

Evidence Team
UK National Screening Committee
www.screening.nhs.uk 

A new report from the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, commissioned by the Institute of Alcohol Studies, finds that almost 2,000 people in England, and 250 in Scotland, have died as a result of recent government cuts to alcohol duty.

Tax on alcohol has been reduced in real-terms in five of the last six Budgets, and, as a consequence, there are estimated to have been:
- over 100,000 additional crimes,
- 500,000 additional days of work lost, and
- over 61,000 additional hospital admissions.

This comes at a cost to the NHS of £341 million. The report also finds that reintroducing the duty escalator, which ensured that tax rates rose by 2% above inflation each year, could reverse these trends. A duty escalator in place until 2032 is estimated to save over 4,700 lives. The Independent has the story.

These findings come at a crucial time for the AHA duty campaign and to support the AHA campaign. BASL has sent a letter to the Chancellor, see below, highlighting the need to increase alcohol duty by 2% in the upcoming Budget.  

Download Letter to Chancellor-Duty Campaign October 2019.pdf

Officials at the Treasury have told the AHA that they noticed the increase in letters asking for alcohol tax increases, both from organisations and MPs, so the campaign is having a real impact.