Alcohol-specific deaths

That this House is seriously concerned by the sharp increase in alcohol-specific deaths in data released by the Office for National Statistics on 8 December 2022, revealing that in 2021 there were 9,641 deaths,14.8 per 100,000 people, from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, the highest number on record, representing a 7.4 per cent increase since the previous year and a 27.4 per cent increase since 2019, the last pre-coronavirus pandemic year; notes the clear regional differences in alcohol-specific mortality and alcohol harm with alcohol-specific mortality ranking highest in the North East for eight consecutive years, with double the number of deaths at 20.4 per 100,000 than the London region on 10.2 per 100,000; is alarmed by a lack of a UK Government alcohol strategy, noting that the last strategy was published in 2012; and calls on the Government to take immediate steps to address alcohol harm by commissioning an independent review of alcohol harm to inform a new alcohol strategy.