Alcohol Policy UK

National Indicator set definitions released

The definitions for the National Indicators have been released by the Department for Communities and Local Government.  Definitions are provided for the 198 National Indicators, 185 of which came into force on the 1st of April 2008.  Local Strategic Partnerships should by now know which indicators they will set as key improvement targets (up to 35) as part of their Local Area Agreements (LAAs).

The new national indicators will be the only means of measuring national priorities that have been set  by the Government.  For alcohol, the key indicators are as follows:

• NI 39 Alcohol-harm related hospital admission rates
• NI 41 Perceptions of drunk or rowdy behaviour as a problem
• NI 115 Substance misuse by young people

A further indicator is associated with alcohol:

• NI 20 Assault with injury crime rate

However alcohol factors into many of the other indicators, with at least another 50 having a direct link with alcohol misuse.  Local partnerships are urged to consider the role of alcohol within their LAAs and key improvement targets. 

For further information on LAAs and the new frameworks for Local Strategic Partnerships see this overview and Alcohol Concern's LAA Factsheet here.

Lancashire to take more regional approach to local alcohol strategy

Community Safety Partnerships in Lancashire are joining up to form an alcohol strategy that covers five boroughs across the region, according to a report in the Lancashire Telegraph. The non-executive director of East Lancs PCT, Ian Clements, who will chair the strategy steering group, said:

We have all agreed that taking action to reduce the harm caused by alcohol should be a priority as part of a wider health inequalities plan to save a million years of life by 2011.

We have realised that across East Lancashire the majority of problems we face in relation to alcohol are broadly similar and we therefore need to pool our resources to drive forward collectively.

The more regional approach will be followed closely - it's more usual for boroughs or districts adopt their own local alcohol strategies. However last year's updated national strategy Safe. Sensible. Social outlined that regional Government Offices would have more responsibility to support local strategies.

Domestic violence perpetration and alcohol: audio and resources from the alcoholpolicy.net/LDAN workshop

The fifth in the alcoholpolicy.net/LDAN 2007 series of alcohol strategy action planning workshops looked at alcohol-related domestic violence, and interventions with perpetrators.  The workshop featured speakers, discussion and debate.

Below is audio from the first part of the session.  The workshop report and audio from Christine Noon (talking about Probation's response) and Keri Abbadi (joint working through the MARAC) will be added shortly.

Introduction by Libby Ranzetta, alcoholpolicy.net
Overview of the issues by Karen Bailey, Stella Project

Right click here to download

Working with perpetrators who have alcohol problems by Stuart Cameron, Tryangle Project

Right click here to download

Links to things Stuart mentioned: BAGRA

DV alcohol arrest referral pilot by Hannah Lindsell and Claire Sibson, Lewisham

Right click here to download

alcohol strategy action planning workshops: working with DV survivors with alcohol problems

alcoholpolicy.net and LDAN
alcohol strategy action planning workshops
workshop four: alcohol and domestic violence – working with women who experience both
Wednesday 15th August, 2 to 4.30pm, Central London

The workshop will explore the links between alcohol use and domestic violence, as well as policy and best practice in working with both issues – from the survivor's perspective.  (Workshop five, on October 3rd will concentrate on perpetrators who have alcohol problems.)

Speakers include:

• Karen Bailey (Stella Project)
• Michelle Robson (DASL Star Project)
• Foziha Raja (EACH)
• Cordelia Mayfield (ARP; tbc) 

Topics include:

• research and theory on alcohol use and DV
• working with DV within a substance misuse service
• working with Asian women
• joint working in practice
• the Cycle of Change for women

This workshop is the fourth in a series of six practical workshops to bring you up to speed with the latest stuff, and help you make progress on alcohol.

aim: to drive local action on alcohol through practical guidance target audience: local alcohol champions (we mean anyone who wants to get things moving on alcohol)

why attend: these workshops will change your (working) life.  Action on alcohol has been bogged down in talking endlessly about all too familiar problems, and waiting for funding.  There is important work we can be doing now, with existing resources.  Come and get started.

about us: alcoholpolicy.net is behind the website and podcast for the alcohol harm reduction field.  We are an informal network of consultants, researchers and practitioners, keen to share our learning and ideas. Our motto: nonus wheela reinventare.  LDAN is the London Drug and Alcohol Network – developing substance misuse policy and supporting the capital’s treatment sector

other info: the workshops are free.  Materials and audio from the workshops will also be freely available on www.alcoholpolicy.net to book contact Shona Flannigan  at shona.flannigan@ldan.org.uk or 020 7704 0004

alcohol strategy action planning workshops: alcohol, asb and offending - breaking the link

alcoholpolicy.net and LDAN alcohol strategy action planning workshop 3 Tuesday 3rd July, 2 to 4.30pm, Central London

The workshop will explore the opportunities for tackling alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour through alcohol interventions.  It will look at policy drivers (including the new updated alcohol strategy for England) and local points of leverage for initiating new treatment responses.

Speakers will share experiences of implementing

• alcohol arrest referral
• conditional cautioning
• alcohol and drug courts
• Alcohol Treatment Requirements
• Probation alcohol work
• alcohol work in prisons

This workshop is the third in a series of six practical workshops to bring you up to speed with the latest stuff, and help you make progress on alcohol.

aim: to drive local action on alcohol through practical guidance target audience: local alcohol champions (we mean anyone who wants to get things moving on alcohol)

why attend: these workshops will change your (working) life.  Action on alcohol has been bogged down in talking endlessly about all too familiar problems, and waiting for funding.  There is important work we can be doing now, with existing resources.  Come and get started.

about us: alcoholpolicy.net is behind the website and podcast for the alcohol harm reduction field.  We are an informal network of consultants, researchers and practitioners, keen to share our learning and ideas. Our motto: nonus reinventare wheela. 

LDAN is the London Drug and Alcohol Network – developing substance misuse policy and supporting the capital’s treatment sector

other info: the workshops are free.  Materials and audio from the workshops will also be freely available on www.alcoholpolicy.net

to book contact Shona Flannigan  at shona.flannigan@ldan.org.uk or 020 7704 0004

tackling street drinking - alcoholpolicy.net and LDAN workshop 15th May

alcoholpolicy.net and LDAN alcohol strategy action planning workshops
workshop 2: tackling street drinking – DPPOs, wet centres and other likely stories Tuesday 15th May, 2 to 4.30pm, London E2

The workshop will explore current problems and solutions associated with street drinking, including sessions on:

• street drinking in London today: population profiles, policy context, implications for ASB and treatment
• evidence for what works
• overview of current solutions in London – has anyone cracked it?
• key players to engage
• action planning

Speakers will share experiences of DPPOs, dispersal orders, outreach, treatment, ASBOs, environmental schemes and other initiatives.  This workshop is the second in a series of six practical workshops to bring you up to speed with the latest stuff, and help you make progress on alcohol.

aim: to drive local action on alcohol through practical guidance target audience: local alcohol champions (we mean anyone who wants to get things moving on alcohol)

why attend: these workshops will change your (working) life.  Action on alcohol has been bogged down in talking endlessly about all too familiar problems, and waiting for funding.  There is important work we can be doing now, with existing resources.  Come and get started.

about us: alcoholpolicy.net is behind the website and podcast for the alcohol harm reduction field.  We are an informal network of consultants, researchers and practitioners, keen to share our learning and ideas. Our motto: nonus reinventare wheela.  LDAN is the London Drug and Alcohol Network – developing substance misuse policy and supporting the capital’s treatment sector

other info: the workshops are free.  Materials and audio from the workshops will also be freely available on www.alcoholpolicy.net

to book contact Jim Bishop  020 7704 0004

Alcohol strategy action planning workshop 1: information for participants

The first of the alcoholpolicy.net/LDAN alcohol strategy action planning workshops  takes place from 2 to 4.30pm on Wednesday 21st February.

Please note this will be a Powerpoint-free zone, and is geared towards practical guidance and dicsussion rather than pontification. 

Participants are invited to do three things in advance of the workshop:

1. leave a comment here on the website (see the end of this post) or email us to say what you particularly want the workshop to cover
2. if you want copies of the key documents we will be discussing, bring along a USB stick
3. if you would like to hear the Alcohol Policy UK podcast songs, bring along a portable fm radio (go with me on this one, it will be lovely)

Outline of the workshop:  improving alcohol treatment in the real world

needs assessments tools – making life easy

• ANARP – regional rates for dependent and hazardous drinking and service utilisation rates
• NWPHO – health and crime measures, and applying the Taking Measures approach to hospital admissions data
• Local lifestyle surveys
• Other local data

government guidance: what we’re supposed to be doing

• Implementing a local programme of improvement - getting the balance of treatment right for hazardous and dependent drinkers
• MOCAM - how the pieces fit together
• Effectiveness review - best practice in alcohol treatment

getting alcohol treatment on the local decision-makers’ radar

• Strategic frameworks at local and regional level
• Targets that talk
• Recruiting champions
• Local issues – pressing the right buttons
• Going to meetings and saying ‘what about alcohol?’

tapping into local resources: what’s there; what’s possible

• PTB
• £15M
• mainstream health and social care budgets
• NRF
• Community safety
• Other LAA funding streams
• Charitable grants

key local players you need to engage

• Councillors
• Public health
• Senior stakeholders
• Service users
• MPs
• DAT

what to do next

• guidance on next steps
• network of practitioners

Alcohol strategy action planning workshops announced

alcoholpolicy.net and London Drug & Alcohol Network are pleased to annouce a new series of free action planning workshops for local alcohol champions.

The first workshop in the series is already heavily oversubscribed and so will be repeated later in the year.  If you are interested in coming along to the repeated workshop on improving alcohol treatment - or any of the workshops in the series, please contact Libby Ranzetta.  The workshops will be in central London, but we will  run them elsewhere if there is enough demand.

aim of the workshops: to drive local action on alcohol through practical guidance

target audience: local alcohol champions (we mean anyone who wants to get things moving on alcohol)

why attend: these workshops will change your (working) life. Action on alcohol has been bogged down in talking endlessly about all too familiar problems, and waiting for funding. There is important work we can be doing now, with existing resources. Come and get started.

about us: alcoholpolicy.net is behind the Alcohol Policy UK website and podcast for the alcohol harm reduction field. We are an informal network of consultants, researchers and practitioners, keen to share our learning and ideas. Our motto: nonus reinventare wheela.

LDAN is the London Drug and Alcohol Network – developing substance misuse policy and supporting the capital’s treatment sector

other info: the workshops are free; places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.  The first workshop on 21st February is fully booked.  Dates for the other workshops will be announced shortly.

The six workshops are:

1. improving alcohol treatment in the real world
2. alcohol, asb and offending - breaking the link
3. alcohol and domestic violence – working with DV victims who have alcohol problems
4. alcohol and domestic violence - working with perpetrators who have alcohol problems
5. tackling street drinking – DPPOs, wet centres and other likely stories
6. alcohol, children and families – developing useful strategies within existing resources