Home Office written question – answered at on 18 May 2026.
Ian Roome
Liberal Democrat, North Devon
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to minimise the risk of harm caused by alcohol sold through home delivery apps.
Sarah Jones
The Minister of State, Home Department
The Licensing Act 2003 regulates the sale and supply of alcohol. The Government recognises that consumer purchasing habits have evolved in recent years, particularly with a notable growth in alcohol sales made via online platforms and rapid delivery services.
The Department for Health and Social Care, which has responsibility for policy on health harms, and the Home Office are looking at how current licensing rules apply to these services and monitoring emerging evidence on the impact they may be having on people’s health. I am clear that we will act where necessary to protect public safety.
To this end, I will shortly hold a roundtable jointly with the Minister for Public Health and Prevention to consider solutions with healthcare professionals and experts in the field.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
