Alcohol Policy UK

Bluffer's guide to local alcohol strategies

So you’ve been asked to write an alcohol harm reduction strategy by the end of March, but:

a) you haven’t got any time to do it, and

b) you don’t really know where to start. 

Clearly, it’s an impossible task. Don’t panic!! Help is at hand.  Follow this guide and you might just get out of jail free.

Download the Bluffer's guide to local alcohol strategies

Tackling young people's drinking pt96

• A pilot scheme to tackle underage drinking in the North Eastern Education and Library Board area is to be launched in Ballymoney. The Binge Drinking Roadshow will attempt to educate parents about the dangers of alcohol and drugs. It will include talks from a former alcoholic and a representative from the Causeway hospital in Coleraine. The NEELB said in Northern Ireland the number of alcohol-related deaths had more than doubled since 1994. The event has been organised by the board in conjunction with the PSNI.  BBC News

• Staffordshire: Young people from several schools involved in a county council drive to target teen drinking are being encouraged to put their thinking caps on to challenge their peers' perceptions about alcohol. The competition invites specific schools across the county to come up with a piece of thought-provoking new media about alcohol.  This is Cheshire

• Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness Project “GEAAP” has launched a new online campaign highlighting the dangers of binge drinking, as well as to promote awareness of the amount of alcohol units in drinks. The site challenges users aged between 9 and 17 to take part in a series of alcohol related quiz with 4 games that can be unlocked at the end of each one. Players compete against each other and the ten highest scores achieved for each game will go into a top ten.

Users have the choice to submit their points to the high score tables and enter themselves into a Prize Draw. The Prize Draw offers winners the chance to win an Apple Ipod Nano and will run monthly. Those who enter into the ‘toptables’ will be eligible for the monthly prize draw and can have their scores entered as many times as they like. The site is being promoted through email, online seeding and will be hosted on the Young Booze Busters website.  For further information,  contact: Chunk, 0141 226 8880.

• Northern Ireland: Children as young as 10 who drink carry-outs with their teenage friends are leaving themselves vulnerable to serious injury or even death, says Altnagelvin A&E consultant Alan McKinney Last year almost 50 children under the age of 15 were treated for alcohol abuse at Altnagelvin's Accident and Emergency department. Mr McKinney said: "We had an average of almost one child a week needing treatment at Altnagelvin for harming themselves with alcohol. The youngest was just 10 years old. The question must be asked: where did the alcohol come from? And in the majority of cases the alcohol came from the child's home." Mr McKinney said it was the first time staff at Altnagelvin had collated statistics for an entire year but, despite not having evidence in the past, they felt the problem was gradually increasing. Derry Journal

• Cracking down on under-age drinking during half term in Southampton - observations out on police patrol.  Southern Daily Echo

• And in Bedfordshire a dozen extra officers were drafted in to tackle alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour among underage youngsters during half-term. Bedford Today

• Bicester's 'Operation Jaunt' for half term  Oxford Mail

Comic Relief funding for young people and alcohol projects

Does your organisation work with young people experiencing problems with their own alcohol use?

If YES then Comic Relief wants to hear from you.

They want to fund work that either:

• provides services for  young people with  alcohol problems;
• reaches more ‘at risk’ groups such as women,  young offenders and those with mental health problems;
• provides training to equip staff with specialist alcohol skills.

They particularly want to receive joint applications from young people’s and alcohol agencies and you will need to show the added value of working together.

Comic Relief offers large grants to voluntary organisations of any size across the whole of the UK.  Applications for grants of between £15,000 and £40,000 per year and usually for between one and three years can be considered.

CLOSING DATES FOR APPLICATIONS ARE:
28th February 2008
15th August 2008

Please check out the grants section of the website at:  http://www.comicrelief.com to find out more about our young people and alcohol  programme.

Alternatively you can:
Call 020 7820 5555 and ask for the UK Grants team or email ukgrants@comicrelief.org.uk  and  ask for an application pack to be sent to you.

Minicom facility is on: 0207 820 5579

Young people and alcohol: the policy response

As previously reported, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith spoke at a briefing on 6th February to set out the Home Office response to young people's drinking.

The Home Office press release said:

The Home Secretary has announced tough police powers to prevent underage drinking, and called for more involvement by parents and the alcohol industry to deal with the problem of teenage alcohol abuse. Speaking to an audience of police, local authority licencing officers and representatives from the alcohol and retail industries, she described a package of new measures designed to address alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour among young people.

Among the actions to be taken are:    

• a crackdown by police on underage drinkers consuming alcohol in public places    
• extra powers for police to confiscate alcohol    
• wider use of parenting contracts to get parents involved in helping their children deal with drinking addictions    
• a new public information campaign directed at binge drinkers    
• an independent review of how well industry standards are being met when it comes to responsible sales of alcohol

But the press release oversells things a little.  There will be a new TUSAC (tackling underage sales of alcohol campaign) for this half-term, and around 10 new arrest referral schemes later this year.  But the widely trailed 'new powers' were not announced; they may be brought in later if the situation does not improve.  The wider use of parenting orders is a new emphasis, which may cause alarm in overstretched Youth Offending Teams.  Similarly, increasing the use of alcohol arrest referral relies on available capacity in alcohol treatment services that have long suffered from under-investment.

The Home Secretary's speech can be downloaded here.

See Drug Education News for a round-up of reactions to all this, and a difference of opinions in the comments to my previous post.

Jacqui Smith took questions after delivering her speech, in a session chaired by Alcohol Concern's Srabani Sen - click on the audio player below to listen.

• 00.00 should alcohol education be a compulsory part of the school curriculum
• 00.40 how is the government going to link up treatment for harmful and dependent drinkers
• 04.04 what will the government do to enforce the law on young people who attempt to buy alcohol
• 05.56 more confiscation is to be welcomed; as is work with industry on alcohol promotions
• 08.30 what can be done to prevent irresponsible media portrayals of drinking
• 10.34 what will the government do to change the culture of drinking

Right click to download mp3

Street drinking ban for under 18s

Police are to get new powers to confiscate alcohol from under-18s who drink in public, the government says. Currently police can seize alcohol only from groups suspected of alcohol-related crime or disorder. And although under-18s are not allowed to buy alcohol, there is no law preventing them from drinking it. The proposed ban, which will mean youngsters can legally drink only at home, will be announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith this week.  BBC News

British Beer and Pub Association director of communications Mark Hastings has pointed out that police already have the power to confiscate alcohol under the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997.

"Under this Act the police have the power to seize alcohol from anyone under the age of 18 and to arrest anyone who fails to comply with the order to surrender alcohol," he said.

"The Act also empowers seizure of alcohol from persons over the age of 18 if it is believed they intend to supply it to someone under 18.

"This Act was extended under the Licensing Act 2003 to include unopened alcohol – specifically where it was considered that there was an intent to consume and that anti-social behaviour could result from that consumption. Once again, we don’t need new laws, we just need the enforcement of existing laws."  Morning Advertiser

Safe.Sensible.Social - Alcohol Strategy keynote speech

The Home Secretary, Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, will be setting out the Government’s vision for tackling alcohol misuse and reducing alcohol-related harms for years to come on at an event on Wednesday 6th February at Islington's Business Design Centre.

She is expected to announce a public drinking ban for under 18s.

• Date – Wednesday 6th February 2008
• Registration – 9.30 am
• Event close – 11.30 am
• Location – Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 0QH
• To book a place please e-mail louise.graham@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
• Admittance will not be permitted without prior registration and photographic identification
• Queries to 020 7035 0568

Change at the top: Alcohol Concern; Drinkaware Trust

Alcohol Concern's chief executive, Srabani Sen, is leaving to run Contact a Family.  Closing date for applications to replace her is 22nd February, details here.  We understand Alcohol Concern's chair, Penny McVeigh, will stand down when she retires later this year.

Meanwhile, the Drinkaware Trust has announced the appointment of its new Chairman, Derek Lewis and its first two lay Trustees, (i.e. trustees with no professional ties to the alcohol industry), Dominic Fry and Jason Stockwood.    Lewis fills the chair left vacant by ex MP Debra Shipley last September. 

Derek Lewis is Chairman of Protocol Associates, a provider of education and training services.  He is also a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Essex and a trustee of WRVS. 

Dominic Fry is a consultant with Tulchan, a financial public relations consultancy. He was previously Group Communications Director of ScottishPower plc and before that, of J Sainsbury plc.

Jason Stockwood is Managing Director International at  Match.com, the world’s biggest online dating site. Jason joined Match.com in March 2007 from online travel brand Travelocity where he was Managing Director of Travelocity Business EMEA.