This review was commissioned by the Department of Health, which asked Public Health England to provide an overview of alcohol-related harm in England and possible policy solutions. It provides a broad and rigorous summary of the types and prevalence of alcohol-related harm, as well as presenting evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alcohol control policies. The statistical data has also been provided on the estimated number of working years of life lost in 2015 due to alcohol, broken down by cause of death.

Reflecting three key influencers of alcohol consumption – price (affordability), ease of purchase (availability) and the social norms around its consumption (acceptability) – an extensive array of policies have been developed with the primary aim of reducing the public health burden of alcohol. The present review evaluates the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of each of these policy approaches.