Alcohol Labelling Bill [HL]

My Lords, I join other noble lords in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, in bringing forward this Bill. It is two and a half years since he introduced his memorable debate on foetal alcohol syndrome. None of us who researched the subject at that time were left in any doubt that we were dealing with something of major importance. I felt then, and I feel now, that doing nothing is simply not an option. The noble Lord reminded us today about the devastating and lifelong consequences which can ensue for children born to mothers who have indulged in binge drinking during pregnancy or who, in some cases, have consumed a relatively modest amount of alcohol at the wrong time. The wider issues to do with FAS present challenges in relation to prevention, as well as to the issues further down the track such as the diagnosis, education and appropriate care of children and adults afflicted with the syndrome. The Bill deals with the preventive aspect, so I shall not talk about the other ones today. I think that the noble Lord has successfully made the case for putting warning labels on alcohol containers. Awareness of this issue is generally low—61 per cent of British women drink while pregnant. In the background, as noble Lords have emphasised, we need to be mindful of the increasing culture of heavy drinking among the young in all socio-economic groups. It is true that the Government have spent not inconsiderable sums on public information initiatives over the past few months, such as the Know Your Limits campaign, and these are to be welcomed. But campaigns of this sort are inevitably transitory and we cannot know that the message has reached everyone who needs to hear it. As a means of raising awareness, appropriate labelling has much to recommend it. The questions we need to settle are twofold: first, do we need a piece of legislation to do this, as opposed to a voluntary agreement with the drinks industry; and secondly, what exactly should the label say? When we debated FAS in 2004, the Minister replying, the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, told us that the Government were taking the problem very seriously and were working with the drinks industry on developing a voluntary labelling scheme. I was more than prepared to accept those assurances at face value, but here we are, two and a half years later, and there has been no visible result from those discussions. I would much prefer a voluntary scheme as long as it could be made to work, but after this interval of time one has to wonder whether there is actually any mileage in the idea; and I frankly am not surprised that the noble Lord has lost patience. It may be that the Minister will deliver some words of genuine comfort on the matter today, but if we carry on without agreeing on a voluntary scheme, then yes, I think the Government need to take at least back-up powers to introduce a scheme of statutory regulation. The noble Lord has made a very good fist indeed of drawing up his Bill. One could criticise it for being too detailed: quite a lot is perhaps more suitedto secondary than to primary legislation. But notwithstanding that, full marks to the noble Lord for showing us exactly what he intends Parliament to consider. It is not only America that is pointing the way on this. If we look at what is happening in France, Finland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, we see that public health messages on bottles and cans about not drinking alcohol during pregnancy are gaining widespread acceptance. Indeed, in 2004, a YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people found that 67 per cent of those asked would welcome labels warning of the dangers to the unborn child. I do not think we need be too fearful that warning labels may be seen as an unnecessary piece of nannying. It is, after all, only a label.