On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health & Social Care (the Department) on alcohol treatment services.1 We also took evidence from Alice Wiseman, Director of Public Health, Gateshead Council, and Board Member and Alcohol Policy Lead, Association of Directors of Public Health, Professor Dame Carol Black, author of the government’s independent review of drugs, Clare Taylor representing Turning Point and Collective Voice, and Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, director of the Liverpool Centre for Alcohol Research and Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance.