The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm

Alcohol Change UK is the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Alcohol Harm. This means we help to organise the activities of the group, which brings together MPs and Peers from all parties to reduce alcohol-related harm.

The APPG on Alcohol Harm’s purpose is to promote the discussion of alcohol-related issues, raise matters of concern and to make recommendations to government and other policy-makers.

Attendance at meetings is by invitation only, but if you would like to be added to the mailing list, please email us at appg@alcoholchange.org.uk.

Membership

The APPG is chaired by Christian Wakeford MP and has the following officers:

RoleNameParty
Chair & Registered ContactChristian Wakeford MPConservative MP for Bury North
Vice ChairDan Carden MPLabour MP for Liverpool Walton
Vice ChairKenny MacAskill MPAlba Party MP for East Lothian
Vice ChairLord Brooke of AlverthorpeLabour Peer
Vice ChairBaroness Finlay of Llandaff

Crossbench Peer

Vice ChairBaroness Hayter of Kentish TownLabour Peer
Vice ChairBaroness Watkins of TavistockCrossbench Peer

Past meetings

Meeting to mark the first day of Alcohol Awareness Week 2021. The theme for this year was alcohol and relationships.

Speakers:

  • Adela Meer, Community Champion for Alcohol Change UK, speaking about her personal experience
  • Laurie Pearce, Community Champion for Alcohol Change UK, speaking about her personal experience
  • Dr Shannon Hirst, Research Lead at OnePlusOne, speaking about alcohol and couple relationships
  • Rob Stebbings, Policy and Communications Lead at Adfam, speaking about the impact of alcohol on wider family relationships, including grandparents and kinship carers
  • Natalie Needham, member of Adfam's Lived Experience Advisory Group, speaking about her personal experience and her creative campaign, #StitchAwayTheStigma
  • Dr Piers Henriques, Head of Communications at Nacoa, the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, speaking about the work of Nacoa
  • Jennifer Payne, volunteer speaker for Nacoa, speaking about her personal experience

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Adfam presentation slides

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Joint meeting with the Cross-Party Parliamentary Group on Drugs, Alcohol and Justice on the topic of women's access to alcohol treatment and support.

Speakers:

  • Susan Laurie, author and Community Champion for Alcohol Change UK, speaking about her personal experience
  • Lucy Steels-Walshaw, Senior Practitioner at York Drug and Alcohol Service and Stephanie McCusker, Project Lead at York Women’s Centre for Changing Lives, speaking about their women’s services
  • Louise Jamieson, Community Champion for Alcohol Change UK, speaking about her personal experience
  • Hannah Shead, CEO of Trevi, a women and children’s charity in South West England, speaking about the needs of mothers and children in alcohol treatment
  • Melissa Rice, author and co-host of BBC podcast ‘Hooked’, speaking about her personal experience

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July 2021 meeting notes

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July 2021 presentation slides

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Meeting on alcohol, men, and mental health to mark Men’s Health Week 2021.

Speakers:

  • Dr Arun Dhandayudam, addictions psychiatrist and Medical Director of WDP, speaking on the links between alcohol dependence and mental health
  • Alcohol Change UK Community Champions, Trevor Twohig, Ian Parker, and Declan Roughan, speaking about their personal experiences
  • Sohan Sahota, co-founder of BAC-IN, a BAME-led alcohol treatment service in Nottingham, speaking about the needs of people from BAME backgrounds

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June 2021 meeting notes

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Meeting on the topic of alcohol labelling.

Speakers:

  • Daniel Jones from the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling, presenting the findings from his recently published article, ‘Health information, messaging and warnings on alcohol packaging: a focus group study with young adult drinkers in Scotland’
  • Lucy Holmes, Director of Research and Policy at Alcohol Change UK, speaking on the Alcohol Health Alliance’s report, ‘Drinking in the Dark: How alcohol labelling fails consumers’ and providing an update on the current state of alcohol labels

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May 2021 meeting notes

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Daniel Jones presentation slides

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Lucy Holmes presentation slides

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Joint meeting with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transport Safety on the topic of drink and drug driving.

Speakers:

  • Evan Webster from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) giving an overview of the current situation and recommendations for policy
  • Dr Andrea Mohan, University of Dundee, speaking about her research exploring the perspective and experiences of repeat drink-drivers
  • Lucy Holmes, Director of Research and Policy at Alcohol Change UK, speaking about the wider picture on alcohol harm

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16 March 2021 meeting notes

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Evan Webster presentation slides

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Dr Andrea Mohan presentation slides

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Meeting on the topic of alcohol and domestic abuse.

Speakers:

  • Baroness Finlay of Llandaff updating on the recent progress of the Domestic Abuse Bill and taking questions from Parliamentarians.
  • Jennifer Keen, Head of Policy at the Institute of Alcohol Studies giving an overview of alcohol and domestic abuse
  • Andy Ryan, Head of Recovery and Addiction Services at Changing Lives, and Jacqui Cox, Area Manager for Changing Lives’ North East Addiction Treatment services, speaking on the challenges faced by service providers
  • Maithreyi Rajeshkumar, Policy Manager at Agenda, the Alliance for Women and Girls at Risk speaking about the gaps in treatment and support services for alcohol and domestic abuse

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10 March 2021 meeting notes

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Briefing meeting on latest Office for National Statistics data on alcohol-specific deaths.

Speakers:

  • Beth Manders, Senior Social Researcher, Health Analysis and Pandemic Insights, at the Office for National Statistics, presenting on the latest alcohol-specific deaths data
  • Kieran Doherty, Head of Quality and Governance at Inclusion, party of Midland Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Kate Hall, Head of Operations for the Substance Misuse Division at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, representing the NHS Addictions Providers Alliance, speaking about the data from a treatment provider perspective
  • Nile Amos, Lived Experience Advisor to Alcohol Change UK, speaking about his personal experience
  • Christian Wakeford MP, speaking about his personal experience

Read our blog on the ONS data.

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February 2021 presentation slides

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AGM and inaugural meeting.

New officers were elected and existing officers re-elected at the meeting. The group was re-registered for the new Parliamentary term on 18 December 2020.

Read the announcement of the group's relaunch.

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December 2020 meeting notes

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Meeting on the topic of alcohol labelling.

Speakers:

  • Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK, introducing the topic of alcohol labelling
  • Dr Mark Egan, Senior Research Advisor, Behavioural Insights Team, on their alcohol risk experiment looking at ways to communicate the CMO guidelines and unit information on alcohol product labels 
  • Ed Morrow, on the Royal Society of Public Health’s report, Labelling The Point, which demonstrates the consumer desire for better information on alcohol product labels 
  • Aleksandra Kaczmarek, Eurocare, European Alcohol Policy Alliance on the regulatory environment and what other European countries have achieved  
  • Alan Tapp, Professor of Social Marketing, UWE Bristol, on marketing regulation in the UK and future policy options 

At the meeting there was a screening of an excerpt from the BBC Panorama programme: ‘Britain’s Drink Problem’, hosted by Adrian Chiles, which you can view below.

Read the blog about the event here.

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Labelling briefing

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Dr Mark Egan presentation slides

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Ed Morrow presentation slides

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Aleksandra Kaczmarek presentation slides

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Alan Tapp presentation slides

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Meeting on the topic of alcohol and inequalities.

Speakers:

  • Rosanna O’Connor from Public Health England speaking on alcohol and health inequalities 
  • Julie Breslin from Drink Wise Age Well speaking on alcohol and age inequalities 
  • Colin Angus from Sheffield Alcohol Research Group speaking on the impact of brief interventions for alcohol on health inequalities 
  • Bhupinder Kullar from the Shanti Project speaking on access to alcohol services in the Punjabi Sikh community   
  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town speaking on policy solutions 

Read the blog about the event here.

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Rosanna O'Connor presentation slides

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Julie Breslin presentation slides

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Colin Angus presentation slides

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Meeting on the topic of alcohol treatment.

Speakers:

  • Mike Ward, Senior Consultant at Alcohol Change UK, presenting findings and recommendations from the report, ‘The hardest hit: Addressing the crisis in alcohol treatment services’
  • Dr Emily Finch, consultant addictions psychiatrists and member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, reflecting on the 2017 ACMD report, ‘Commissioning Impact on Drug Treatment’
  • Paul Hayes, Chair of Collective Voice, representing the treatment provider perspective
  • Professor Colin Drummond, professor of addiction psychiatry at Kings College London and Chair of Public Health England’s Alcohol Advisory Board expert group on treatment
  • Vivienne Evans OBE, CEO of Adfam, and Oliver Standing, Director of Policy and Communications at Adfam, reflecting on the Recovery Partnership’s 2017 ‘State of the Sector’ report on drug and alcohol services

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Mike Ward presentation slides

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Emily Finch presentation slides

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Paul Hayes presentation slides

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Colin Drummond presentation slides

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Drop-in alcohol-free drinks reception at the House of Commons in partnership with Club Soda.

Alcohol-free drinks included Heineken 0.0, St. Peter’s Brewery’s St. Peter’s Without, Temperance Spirit Company’s Teetotal GnT, Nirvana and Fitbeer, and Big Drop.

Read the blog about the event here.

This event gained media coverage in Harpers, Talking Retail and Better Retailing. Parliamentarians also shared the event on their websites.

Reports and briefings

Health and Care Bill briefing

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Health and Care Bill briefing

In July 2021, the Health and Care Bill was introduced in the House of Commons.

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Joint briefing on the Domestic Abuse Bill

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This is not an official website of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of MPs and Peers with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed on this webpage are those of the APPG on Alcohol Harm.

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