To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will introduce legislation to ban the screening of television advertisements for alcoholic beverages before 9 pm.

No. The Government take the issue of binge drinking and alcohol misuse, particularly among young people, very seriously and accepted all the conclusions of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England. These included asking Ofcom, which has statutory responsibility for the regulation of broadcast advertising, to oversee a review of the rules on alcohol advertising. Ofcom's Code amendments were published on 1 November 2004 and came into effect from 1 January this year. These changes significantly strengthen the rules on broadcast alcohol advertising in many areas, particularly to protect the under-18s.