Alcohol Policy UK

Latest HubCAPP projects: July 2010

The Hub of Commissioned Alcohol Projects and Policies (HubCAPP) is an online resource of local alcohol initiatives throughout England. The latest projects to be added include:

Lambeth | Pharmacy-based Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) Project

Local Alcohol Workforce and Skills Development Conference, 15th June 2010

Reducing Harm from Alcohol – National Resources for Local Workforce and Skills Development Conference is taking place on the 15th June 2010 in London.

Conference details here or download the event flyer [pdf].

The conference forms part of the Skills for Health work programme commissioned by the Department of Health to address workforce development needs for specialist practitioners and all who could or do deliver Identification and Brief Advice (IBA).

Attendance at the conference is recommended for all those who are involved directly or indirectly in delivering services for alcohol across all sectors; public, private, and voluntary, and including practitioners, workforce planners and commissioners, education commissioners, education providers, training and development leads. 

To register, please go to: www.eventprouk.com, click on EVENT REGISTRATION then input: Username: EP1243 Password: AL150610 (Please note that all the 0's are zeros' and use capital letters)

Registration will be open until 7th June 2010.

Location: Holiday Inn Bloomsbury London WC1N 1HT (Holiday Inn Bloomsbury Map & Directions)

If you have any queries concerning registration please do not hesitate to contact Liz Moss, liz@eventprouk.com or Tel: 0845 8385188

Community engagement and the night time economy: presentations from the London Alcohol Practitioners Forum

The second Alcohol Practitioners Forum was held on Friday 18th September at City Hall, exploring key themes of community engagement and the night time economy - powerpoint presentations can be downloaded below.

The Alcohol Practitioners' Forum is an information sharing and networking group open to everyone working in the alcohol and associated sectors in London. The forum focuses on practice and delivery to support the Joint Action Group (JAG) on Alcohol, led by the Greater London Authority in order to deliver the Regional Statement of Priorities .

Workshop A: Reducing alcohol related harm in the night time economy.

• Project Weekend: Managing alcohol and cocaine use in Havering, Ola Aroyehun
• London Ambulance Service Booze buses, Brian Hayes
• Wolverhampton City Council.‘Keep It Safe’, Ros Jervis and Jayne Freeman-Evans.
• Accident & Emergency Data Sharing Initiative, Matthew Andrews and Clare Charlton

Workshop B: What is effective community engagement?

• Capturing good practice models, Foziha Raja, EACH.
• Community engagement approaches in the Well London programme, Alison Pearce.

Workshop C: Developing a diverse night time economy

• A New Code of Practice for Alcohol Retailers, Mark Cooper, Home Office.
• Use of controlled drinking zones in Richmond, Ann Lawtey
• Best Bar None in Kensington and Chelsea, Pat Crowley.
• Smoking and Alcohol Free events for young people in Bexley, Rev. Martin Seymour
• Purple Flag Accredition scheme, Tony Rahman, ATCM

Workshop D: Putting community engagement into practice

• Older people and alcohol misuse, Dr Tony Rao, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
• Engaging with LGBT service users, Monty Montcrieff, Antidote.
• Community engagement by an alcohol and drugs service, Marcantonio Spada

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)

Too much too young? Alcohol misuse amongst young Londoners

The London Assembly has published Too much too young? Alcohol misuse amongst young Londoners. The report reviews evidence of alcohol use in London amongst 11-21 year olds and makes a number of policy recommendations across all levels.

The key findings of the report include:

• Young people in the capital are less likely to drink, and less likely to get drunk than young people elsewhere in the country.
• More than a third (35 per cent) of Londoners aged 11-21 drank regularly in 2005-06.
• Londoners aged 11-15 now drink around 307,391 units of alcohol a week
• 11-15 year old women now have similar drinking habits to young men of the same age.
• Around 80 to 90 per cent of 17-21 year olds have ever had an alcoholic drink, compared to 15 per cent of 11 year olds and 60 per cent of 15 year olds.
• In 2005-07, ten per cent of Pakistani and 12 per cent of Bangladeshi young people drank at least once a year (up from 4% and 2% respectively in 2001-04).
• Alcohol-specific hospital admissions for 11-21 year old Londoners have almost doubled in recent years. In 2006, there were 1315 hospital admissions for 11-21 year olds, compared to 690 in 2002 – an increase of 91 per cent.
• The alcohol-specific hospital admission rate for young women (at 14.0 admissions per 10,000) was almost twice as high as the rate for young men of the same age (at 7.4 admissions per 10,000).
• In 2003, there were 1,272 incidents where 11-21 year olds were accused of alcohol–related offences, compared to 2,370 in 2007; nearly double.
• Underage drinking was the least frequently reported issue in a survey on alcohol-related disorder conducted with community safety staff in London boroughs.

Recommendations (summary):

1. The Greater London Alcohol and Drugs Alliance (GLADA) should monitor the alcohol consumption of young Londoners between 2009 and 2012 to assess whether recent increases in drinking among young women and among young Pakistani and Bangladeshi Londoners are part of ongoing trends.
2. The Mayor should commission an immediate review of GLADA’s membership, resourcing and remit to ensure it can effectively implement the Regional Statement of Priorities for Alcohol and provide strong regional leadership on alcohol misuse.
3. The Mayor should outline initiatives to tackle the disproportionate impact of alcohol on the health of people from deprived communities in his upcoming Health Inequalities Strategy.
4. By March 2010, London boroughs where alcohol-specific hospital admissions for under-18s are higher than the national average (currently Kingston and Sutton) should appoint an alcohol harm reduction champion.
5. A London borough and local police service working with the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group should pilot the St Neots community alcohol partnership model to reduce alcohol misuse by under 18s during 2009/10. Representatives of both the on- and off-licence trade should be engaged in this partnership.
6. The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority should ensure that alcohol education is effectively covered in the mandatory PSHE curriculum, currently under development. Alcohol should be given the same prominence in this curriculum as drugs, and the focus should be on how to reduce alcohol harm. The curriculum should cover how and why alcohol tolerance varies between men and women. It should also include first aid techniques, so that young people know how to help in emergencies such as a friend collapsing because of alcohol.
7. By June 2010, The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Home Office should run a national FRANK campaign around alcohol that focuses on the consequences of drinking, and also promotes the information FRANK can provide about alcohol and local services.
8. By December 2010, GLADA should co-ordinate a London wide social marketing campaign that aims to reduce alcohol harm, in association with external partners. The campaign should target groups including parents and carers, young women aged 11-15 and young Pakistani and Bangladeshi Londoners.
9. By March 2012, NHS London should ensure that Screening and Brief Intervention Initiatives are in place at every London Accident and Emergency Department, and available to adults and to young people. A detailed evaluation of the impact of Screening and Brief Interventions on young Londoners’ drinking behaviour should be conducted by March 2014.

Interestingly the report does not extensively refer to the draft guidance from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) issued earlier this year, though it does claim to support it: "The Committee welcomes [the CMO] guidance, but believes that once the guidance has been finalised, it should be disseminated together with information about alcohol treatment and support services for young people and for their parents and carers."

The Youth Alcohol Action Plan was released as the government's national strategy for young people in 2008.

London off-licences may restrict alcohol sales to over 21

The Evening Standard has reported that London Mayor Boris Johnson is backing a scheme that will see off-licences voluntarily raising the age to 21 for purchasing alcohol. A pilot is to take place in Croydon and other Tory councils have reportedly come out in support, including Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and Ealing.

A pilot in Scotland last year banned sales to under 21s in West Lothian and was reported to reduce alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour significantly . This year the Scottish National Party released a national framework for action which includes plans to raise the legal purchase age to 21 across the country.

Regional alcohol manager, London

This job advert slipped under the radar - sorry for short notice in posting it here.  We knew it was coming up but thought it would appear in Society Guardian, as is the norm for these jobs.

Regional Alcohol Manager in the Regional Public Health Group – London

• Salary: – £44,681 - £59,961
• G7 Civil Service Band 8a (AforC)
• Two-year secondment
• Closing date 4th February 2009
• details here

London: new Joint Action Group takes forward Regional Statement of Priorities for Alcohol

A Joint Action Group (JAG) met for the first time in January to discuss how to take forward London’s Regional Statement of Priorities for Alcohol. The group is made up of experts from a range of organisations, including Primary Care Trusts, London Probation, MPS, London boroughs and the voluntary sector. The Greater London Alcohol and Drugs Alliance (GLADA) will act as a Strategic Delivery Board for the JAG. The Regional Statement of Priorities was developed in response to the call for regional action within the Government’s Safe, Sensible, Social. The next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy (2007).

The priorities were drawn up by Ranzetta Consulting through workshops and structured discussions with a range of stakeholders. Its overall objectives are to:

• Reduce alcohol related harm to health, through awareness raising, early intervention and better access to treatment and support.
• Reduce alcohol related crime and disorder and anti-social behaviour through continuing to improve the management of the nighttime economy and tackling the links between drinking and offending.
• Reduce the risk of harm to children and young people as a result of their own or others’ drinking, through developing alcohol work within targeted youth support and the Every Child Matters agenda

Project Officer: Data sharing in A&E

The London Regional Public Health Group are now advertising for the position of Project Officer: Data sharing in A&E. The key function of the role is to take forward a programme of activities with the NHS to reduce alcohol related hospital admissions. A key component of this will be work to enable the NHS with their local Crime and Drugs Reduction Partners to reduce violence related attendances and admissions at hospital.

Vacancy details, including job description and personal specification are available from the NHS jobs site here.

The closing date is 29/09/08. For further details contact susan.ismaeel@dh.gsi.gov.uk or on 0207 2173388.

Best Bar None schemes now total 90

In 2007 an agreement was reached between Greater Manchester Police, the Home Office and BII, the professional body for the licensed retail sector, to develop Best Bar None (BBN) nationally. An independent board has now been formed and is currently chaired by Lord Rupert Redesdale. BII's role in Best Bar None is to help and foster future development of the scheme.

The number of BBN schemes is now running at 90, with the Chief Executive John McNamara further promoting their development, an article in the Morning Advertiser reports. However McNamara was keen to highlight that schemes should not become mandatory, and that the emphasis should be on local schemes adapting a bottom up approach. The article also highlighted the paperwork necessary for BBN participation was also being reduced, one of the concerns highlighted by some local authorities regarding the scheme.

However more serious questions have been raised in the past relating to evaluating the effectiveness of the schemes, which have been suggested in some cases as costly and time consuming. An evaluation of Croydon's BBN scheme showed that while some positive partnership outcomes were apparent, a number of issues meant effectiveness was difficult to demonstrate.

For further information on BBN and examples of schemes across the country see here

To visit the official BBN site see here