Lords question government departments on EU alcohol strategy
Continuing its inquiry into the next European Union Alcohol Strategy, the House of Lords Home Affairs, Health and Education EU Sub-Committee will question officials from the Department of Health and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
They will be joined by a representative of the NHS Confederation in Brussels in the session on Wednesday 22 October.
At 10.45am, the Committee will question:
- Crispin Acton, Programme Manager, Alcohol Misuse, and Lindsay Wilkinson, Deputy Director, at the Department of Health;
- Sarah Godman, UK National Focal Point for the EU's Health Programme, NHS Confederation office in Brussels; and
- Susannah Simon, Director European Reform Directorate at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Issues the Committee will explore with the witnesses include:
- what the Government considers to be the key achievements of the previous Strategy, from a public health point of view, and if it agrees that there should be a new strategy;
- what a new EU strategy would bring to the table as opposed to national strategies and/or the World Health Organisation framework;
- whether EU policies are underpinned by sound scientific evidence, including robust data collection;
- the relationship between minimum unit pricing and taxation and the potential effects that measures such as minimum unit pricing and bans on the below-cost sale of alcohol might have on the illegal alcohol trade; and
- the role that the Government believes the alcohol industry itself has to play in the development and implementation of a new EU strategy.
The evidence session will take place at 10.45am, on Wednesday 22 October in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords.
