The department statement comes at a time when approximately 15,000 people die each year in the UK from alcohol and drugs.
The Department of Health and Social Care has delivered a message on ‘restrictions’ relating to alcohol, in response to a recent parliamentary question. The query relates to the rules governing the promotion of alcoholic beverages and whether they ought to be brought more into line with those for ‘less healthy food and drink‘.
From January 2026, advertisements for less healthy food and drinks have been banned on television before 9pm and online completely. The UK Government maintains that this could assist in eliminating up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets annually, and decrease the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.
Against this backdrop, Danny Beales, Labour MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, questioned the Government earlier this month about whether it would undertake ‘an assessment of the potential merits of introducing restrictions on alcohol in line with existing restrictions on the marketing of less healthy food and drink’.
Ashley Dalton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department of Health and Social Care, replied to say that current alcohol advertisements follow ‘voluntary codes’. “Currently, alcohol advertisements follow voluntary codes, regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA),” she said.
“The ASA’s Advertising Codes contain specific rules about how alcohol can be advertised, as they recognise the social imperative of ensuring that alcohol advertising is responsible.
“The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as the lead Government department responsible for advertising, to consider if additional statutory restrictions on marketing and advertising are needed to reduce alcohol related harms.”