To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the remarks by Baroness Thornton on 1 May 2008 (WA 410) during the Committee of the Whole House on the Alcohol Labelling Bill stating that if a voluntary scheme was not adopted by industry the Government would introduce a mandatory scheme, when they intend to introduce mandatory labelling of containers of alcoholic beverages. [HL6136]

In May 2007, the department reached a United Kingdom-wide voluntary agreement with the alcohol industry to include specified unit and health information on alcohol labels. The Government made clear their expectation that the majority of labels should be covered by the end of 2008.

We expect to be able to publish shortly the results of independent monitoring from samples taken in April 2009. We will be looking at whether a majority of labels are covered by the expected information and whether the content is consistent with the 2007 voluntary agreement.

If we find that most labels are still not complying with the voluntary agreement, we will consider what action we can take to improve compliance, including using existing powers under the Food Safety Act to make this a mandatory requirement.

We believe that consumers have a right to consistent, agreed information on at least the large majority of alcohol labels, to enable them to assess their intake of alcohol and to relate this to the Government's guidelines.