To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit the display of alcohol on shelves in shops and supermarkets.

The Government acknowledges that the irresponsible promotion of alcoholic drinks may contribute to alcohol related harms. Where there is evidence of this linked to the undermining of one of the licensing objectives, licensing authorities should consider whether it is appropriate to impose conditions on licences that require the licence holder to comply with the Portman Group’s Retailer Alert Bulletins.

The Portman Group, the social responsibility body and regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging, and promotion in the United Kingdom, operates a Code of Practice to ensure that alcohol is marketed in a socially responsible way, only to those aged 18 years old and over, and in a way that does not appeal particularly to those who are vulnerable. If a product’s packaging or point-of-sale advertising is found to be in breach of the code, the Portman Group may issue a Retailer Alert Bulletin to notify retailers of the decision and ask them not to replenish stocks of any such product or to display such point-of sale material.

There are no current plans to prohibit the display of alcohol on shelves in shops and supermarkets through legislation.