Middle-class wine drinkers 'at risk'

Well-off, middle-aged people who drink wine at home are among those targeted by a new campaign against Britain's "booze culture".

It comes as government figures released under Freedom of Information legislation show primary care trusts are failing to provide funding to deal with the aftermath of alcohol abuse.

The joint campaign by the Home Office and the Department of Health will promote a "sensible drinking" culture. Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, said he wanted to change the view that it was "acceptable to drink to get drunk".

Figures show there are more than eight million problem drinkers. Applied to the adult population, it would mean nearly one in six has a problem with drink.

An independent review will look at how the price of alcohol affects the amount people consume, particularly problem drinkers. The public will be asked if they would support steps such as a ban on cut-price drink.

Mr Coaker said: "It's almost regarded as acceptable to drink to get drunk and we want to change that attitude. I think attitudes have dramatically changed in relation to drink-driving and smoking - we need to have that same sort of discussion and debate around binge-drinking as well."

The campaign will target binge drinking by those aged 18 to 24 but it will also be aimed at people who regularly drink two bottles of wine a day at home. Caroline Flint, the Health minister, said there were adults who were drinking twice the recommended safe level. "They are not dependent on alcohol but often they aren't aware how much they are drinking over a week, and we have to think what support and advice they should be given."

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that most primary care trusts allocate no special funding for the treatment of people with an alcohol problem. PCTs have separate budgets for dealing with drug addiction, but the figures showed that six out of 10 primary care trusts have allocated no additional funding for alcohol treatment. Some PCTs rely on the budgets for accident and emergency units to cope with the effects of drunkenness.

David Burrowes, the Tory MP for Enfield Southgate, who obtained the figures, accused the Government of "chronic underfunding" of alcohol treatment.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Alcohol misuse is calculated to cost the health service £1.7bn per annum. How much PCTs choose to spend on particular services is for them to decide in line with their local priorities."

David Davis , the shadow Home Secretary, said the new crackdown was an admission of failure for the Government's strategy to allow 24-hour drinking.

Professor Roger Williams, the liver expert who treated the late George Best, described the new initiative as laudable but added: "It has taken so long to get to this stage. We've been pressing for measures for years."

* A drink-driver who told police he had downed up to 25 pints of lager before drivingwas spared jail yester-day. Stuart Walker, 60, was given a three-month suspended jail term and a five-year driving ban at Cambridge magistrates' court.