Alcohol Policy UK

Protect children from alcohol misuse: Turning Point call for early intervention

The health and social care provider Turning Point has said alcohol misuse within families is an escalating concern in its new report "Bottling it up: the next generation". It says early screening and identification of families is needed urgently to prevent the ‘inter-generational cycle’ of alcohol misuse which blights the lives of children and undermines their life chances. 

Up to 2.6 million children live with parents who drink at "hazardous" levels and around 700,000 children are thought to live with dependent drinkers. As picked up in the Daily Express, pressure put on women to be "supermums" was felt to be increasing alcohol use as a coping mechanism. Turning Point said more than 5,000 people who used their alcohol treatment services last year were parents. 

The report says children of parents who misuse alcohol are more at risk of depression, anxiety and increased anger. Turning Point also highlighted JRF research which found that children who see their parents drunk are twice as likely to get drunk themselves. Children living with drinking parents are also more likely to experiment at an early age with alcohol and drugs, increasing the risk of their own later life substance problems. 

In the report Turning Point call on the Government to place a duty on Local Authorities to develop strategies that take into account the harms to family life and children's development. They also advocate the development of services which are more family focused and home-based, better liaison between adult and children's services, and more information available to help affected children.

The charity Adfam exist to improve the quality of life for families affected by drug and alcohol use - and have a find help here page. Alcohol Concern's Embrace project was set up to develop better policy and practice around alcohol and children, families and domestic abuse. Embrace pilots aimed to develop a more family-focused approach to their clients and to take account of domestic violence and abuse throughout their work.

Further alcohol-related reports and guidance related to children and young people can be found here on the Alcohol Learning Centre, including the CMO guidance or see the Drinkaware web-page for parents.

Mayor's report proposes 'alcohol sobriety scheme' for London

Members of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) have received a report from the Mayor on the proposal of an alcohol sobriety scheme for London:

'The compulsory alcohol sobriety scheme is an enforcement approach providing specific powers for the court to order sobriety as an order for alcohol related violence offences. The Mayor is tabling an amendment to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill for changes in the current law to enable the courts to make this order. The compulsory alcohol requirement will involve twice daily testing and failure of the test will result in immediate breach and sanctions, such as custody.'

'It is based around some key principles:

• The judges opt to use compulsory sobriety as a sentencing option instead of choosing to incarcerate offenders.
• The convicted individual is required to check into a designated venue twice daily to be breathalysed for alcohol consumption.
• If the terms of the sentence are breached, the individual is arrested, put into a police cell over night and presented to the judge the following day. The judge has the discretion to decide what happens to the offender, for example incarcerate them, put them back on community sentence etc.
• Individuals pay for their testing.'

The Evening Standard reported the news, highlighting high levels of alcohol-related violence in the capital. However the idea attracted scepticism when announced last year; Don Shenker of Alcohol Concern said he was "dubious about the long term success", instead suggesting alcohol arrest referral programmes required further funding.

Currently Alcohol Treatment Requirements (ATRs) are often used as a voluntary alternative to custodial sentences for those with alcohol dependency. See here for full guidance on addressing alcohol-related offending, and recent documents on IBA for offenders.

Grasping the nettle: alcohol and domestic violence factsheet

An updated factsheet Grasping the nettle: alcohol and domestic violence [pdf] has been released by Alcohol Concern. Authored by Dr Sarah Galvani, it provides an updated overview of the research on the association between alcohol and domestic violence and a clear outline of the implications for policy and practice.

See here for information on Alcohol Concern's children, families and domestic abuse Embrace project.

Cocaethylene: responding to combined alcohol and cocaine use

A briefing paper 'Cocaethylene: responding to combined alcohol and cocaine use' has been produced by the AERC Alcohol Academy. The paper assesses the current understanding, data, trends and implications for public health and alcohol policy.

The briefing identifies that combined alcohol and cocaine use appears to be increasingly popular despite indications of significantly increased health and social risks. Combining alcohol and powder cocaine can form cocaethylene in the liver, a unique metabolite that can enhance the user's experience but significantly increase the risk of heart attack or sudden death. Its use has also been linked to other conditions and an increased risk of violence.

However awareness about cocaethylene and associated risks appears low; the paper recommends that both further research and policy recognition are needed. It identifies a role for alcohol and drugs policy to better respond to poly-use, both within the health & treatment and community safety fields. Although there is little evidence of specific treatment or intervention approaches for combined use, it appears there is scope within existing approaches to better respond to combined use. There may be opportunities particularly within the alcohol field and through the delivery of brief interventions (or 'IBA'), whilst primary powder cocaine treatment indicates positive outcomes for combined users.

The Academy has been developing a cocaethylene training course to develop knowledge and explore treatment responses for combined users, and is working with experts to explore and develop further research on the subject. If you are interested in training or have further information on combined alcohol and cocaine use, please get in touch.

News & reports in brief: holiday units; local alcohol pricing; social work survey; Stella project news; children with binge drinking parents

8 drinks a day is average Briton's holiday alcohol consumption

A Know Your Limits survey has revealed 27% of holidaymakers drank three times or more than usual whilst away this summer, equating to 80 drinks over the course of the average holiday, or well over 200 units of alcohol. But 70% of the 3,500 adults that partook in survey said they planned to make September the 'new January' by cutting back. See BBC and News Rage UK reports for more.

Tackling alcohol related disorder: alcohol summit & local price probe

The BBC have reported that a summit to discuss ways of addressing alcohol-related disorder in Aberdeen has been agreed by the local licensing board. Local councillor Bill Cormie said he wanted the police and health authorities, the licenced trade and the community to discuss the problems to help determine whether a 'culture change' or an excess of licensed premises was responsible.

Authorities in Swindon will be organising extra patrols to gather evidence to check for a link between cheap offers and anti-social behaviour. The move comes following indications that rises in anti-social behaviour may be linked to 'irresponsible' drinks promotions that have increased since the recession, the BBC reports.

Alcohol survey for social workers

Alcohol Concern are carrying out a survey of social work professionals in order to better understand the effects of parental alcohol misuse on children, as part of their research for Alcohol Awareness Week 2009.

Estimated 30% of children live with at least one binge-drinking parent

Action on Addiction have generated estimates from secondary analysis of 5 household surveys that shows a large number of children live with parents who drink excessively, use drugs, have mental health problems or some combination of the three. The estimates found that approximately 30% of children under-16 years (3.4 - 3.5 million) in the UK lived with at least one binge-drinking parent.

See the Alcohol Concern's Supporting children affected by parental alcohol misuse: a toolkit for guidance.

Stella Project summer newsletter

The Stella Project, which promotes good practice and supports direct service providers across the drug, alcohol and domestic violence sectors in Greater London, has released the Stella Project Quarterly Newsletter Issue 3, 2009 (pdf)

Embrace Project: acting together on alcohol, children, families and domestic abuse

Alcohol Concern's National Lottery-funded domestic abuse and families project Embrace has published a newsletter with all the latest project developments, and a 'resource supplement' that lists key journal articles, websites, sources of leaflets and posters, and policy documents.  Well worth a look.

Tackling Violence Action Plan Implementation Guidance 2008

The Home Office has released guidance to assist local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to deliver action plans to reduce violent crime. The Tackling Violence Action Plan Implementation Guidance focuses on a number of key violent crime types in addition to alcohol-related violence, including gun crime and gang-related violence, knife crime, domestic violence, youth crime and sexual violence.

The document provides guidelines on the strategic framework for implementing local plans to reduce violence and links to a range of key documents and supporting strategies. The report states for alcohol-related violence and PSA 23:

It is recognised that grievous bodily harm (GBH), both with and without intent, can be used as a proxy for the prevalence of alcohol related violent crime because success in tackling all types of alcohol-related violence should be manifested through improvements in the number of GBH offences. Progress on the alcohol-related violent crime outcomes sought both through PSA 25 as well as PSA 23 will be measured using this indicator.

Further guidance on tackling alcohol related violence can be found in the Home Office and Dept of Health Alcohol Strategy Local Implementation Toolkit.

The report also links to the Home office practical guide for dealing with alcohol related problems, which provides an overview of the main measures and legislation to address issues relating to licensed premises, street drinking and individuals.

We have expressed concern about reliance on proxy measures recently, and would prefer to see alcohol flagged better in crime records.

Domestic Violence news: Stella Project release new report and policy bank

The Stella project, the specialist London GLDVP project addressing drug and alcohol related domestic violence, have released several new reports and initiatives to support commissioners, DAATs and practitioners in improving service development.

A online Policy Bank has been set up to include strategies, reports and other resources that address the dual issues of substance use and domestic violence.

The new report Innovative responses: new pathways to address domestic violence and substance misuse across London has been written to highlight innovative and integrated joint working practice.  It raises key learning points including:

• Specific actions that are measurable and monitored should be attached to any strategic commitments on the dual issues, to ensure the efficacy of the strategy and to achieve changes in service delivery and practice
• Regular communication and strong working relations between statutory leads for domestic violence and substance misuse are a key factor for success in this work
• Evidencing need is crucial for attracting and sustaining funding for development work
• The precarious nature of funding can slow down the impetus to develop innovative pieces of work. This is reinforced when work is reliant on one lead person
• Attempts to address alcohol use without addressing the underlying dynamics inherent to domestic violence will not be sufficient to promote the safety of survivors and their children
• The Stella Project recommends that such pilots initiate staff training on how to work with men who are abusive and identify clear referral pathways into appropriate services. Good practice would engage with partners to promote their safety and to measure the effectiveness of interventions

Hard copies of the report can be obtained from info@gldvp.org.uk

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

Home Office online expert chat today: alcohol and domestic violence

There will be a panel answering questions on alcohol-related DV, particularly at Christmas, online 12 noon to 2pm today at the Crime Reduction website here .  Details of the panel here

The report and audio from the latest alcoholpolicy.net/LDAN workshop on Alcohol and DV (working with perpetrators) will be available shortly.  Please email me if you'd like details.