A national helpline for the children of alcoholics will be set up after the health secretary Jeremy Hunt was moved to act by hearing his Labour shadow describe his upbringing as the child of an alcoholic father.
In a rare example of cross-party co-operation on the NHS, Hunt announced that he was drawing up a strategy to support the 200,000 children being raised by alcoholic parents.
He stepped in after Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, spoke about his experiences last weekend, including in The Sunday Times.
Under plans unveiled today, £500,000 will be used to expand an existing local helpline and MPs from an all-party group will devise a support plan. Children of alcoholics are twice as likely to have problems at school
