Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has conducted into the effect on public health of alcohol advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Jane Ellison

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR). The SPHR is conducting a programme of research from June 2013 to March 2017 on reducing alcohol-related health harms in an English context. This includes research on aspects of the impact of alcohol advertising on alcohol consumption. Details of the research programme are available on the SPHR website at:

http://sphr.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/NIHR-SPHR-Alcohol-programme-summary-Nov-2014.pdf

Researchers supported by the SPHR have contributed to research on industry-driven marketing influences on young people’s drinking behaviour. Findings were published in the journal Addiction in 2014.

The Behaviour and Health Research Unit (BHRU) at the University of Cambridge is part-funded by the Department. The BHRU has contributed to research on exposure of children and adolescents to alcohol marketing on social media websites. Findings were published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism in 2014.