Alcohol Policy UK

Conferences: 'Student alcohol (mis)use' and 'Drinking Spaces and Places – Examining who drinks alcohol, where and why?'

Two interesting and inexpensive events have come to our attention:

Seminar - 'Drinking spaces and places: Examining who drinks alcohol, where and why?' - Wednesday 10 February 2010

'The impact of drinking alcohol in excess is seen both in terms of individual health and disorder in public spaces. This seminar focuses on why policy levers need to recognise the importance of where and how people drink.'

Tickets (including refreshments): full £60, academics/members £40, students £15

See here for full details of download the full programme here.

Student alcohol (mis)use conference - 30th March 2010

This event is being organised by the University of Northampton, costing £40 to attend including lunch and materials. See here for full details. The organisers are currently accepting submissions and poster presentations and have declared themes of the conference will cover:

• students’ alcohol-related perceptions and beliefs
• the nature of students’ (mis)use of alcohol
• the culture of student drinking and ‘binge’ drinking in general
• policies and strategies in managing student drinking and its effects
• alcohol issues within educational institutions and their local communities
• the community and regional context of student use of alcohol
• therapeutic approaches to students with alcohol problems 

Alcohol Academy regional seminar presentations available on key topics

The AERC Alcohol Academy delivered a workshop and seminar event for alcohol leads in the Yorkshire & Humber region on the 11th November, covering a range of topics pertinent to local alcohol strategy.

Presentations on the day included:

1. 'Key issues and developments in local alcohol harm reduction (health)'

James Morris, Programme Lead, AERC Alcohol Academy Download here (pdf)

2. 'Higher risk drinkers social marketing programme'

Nick Tancock, Department of Health Download here (pdf)

3. 'Alcohol policy: orientation and integration in addressing alcohol-related crime and disorder'

Dr Phil Hadfield, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies Download here (pdf) or access the full report here

4. 'Alcohol Arrest Referral and the lessons being learnt from the Leeds programme'

Keith Lawrance, Alcohol and Violent Crime Delivery Manager; Safer Leeds Partnership Download here (pdf)

5. 'Alcohol and Children and Young People: national and local policy implications'

Michela Morleo, Alcohol Research Manager, Liverpool John Moores University  Download here (pdf)

Earlier this year the Academy delivered an event in London covering topics including: alcohol harms and trends, alcohol and older people, partnership delivery and strengthening the research and evidence base. The Academy will be delivering further seminars across the regions for alcohol coordinators and leads as well as delivering training and skills development for practitioners. For further details on the Academy see here or contact james@alcoholacademy.net.

Regional and local news and updates

East of England regional alcohol newsletter

The East of England has released its second regional alcohol newsletter, highlighting key news, developments and best practice in the region. The newsletter publishes findings from the Big Drink Debate, examining attitudes and behaviours of people in the region towards alcohol consumption, impacts and harms. Full findings here.

The newsletter also outlines innovative regional alcohol programmes including work to improve offender health in Bedfordshire, with the specific focus on offenders with learning disabilities and mental health issues. It also outlines work in HMP Chelmsford to pilot a peer led Alcohol Misuse, Identification and Brief Advice initiative delivered by Prisoner Health Trainer Champions. Also identified are details of the regional Alcohol Improvement Programme and 7 new projects that have been funded for the region to help deliver the key alcohol High Impact Changes. 

Trendy London area now a 'saturation zone'

Clerkenwell in East London has now been deemed a 'saturation zone' to curb further growth of licensed premises. According to the local paper 'Clerkenwell attracts thousands of revellers to its 135 licensed nightspots every week - but residents claim that with the amount of alcohol on offer, people are drinking excessively and making too much noise.'

'Saturation zones' are informal names given to areas where new licensed premises are restricted through 'Cumulative Impact' policies - see here for DCMS guidance (pdf)

Other news and initiatives

Liverpool are investing in taxi marshals to reduce alcohol-fuelled disorder, according to the Liverpool Echo. Licensing officers in Dorset have rejected an application for a 24 hour alcohol home delivery service, as reported in this BBC story. Volunteer 'street pastors' who help troubled night-spot drinkers have been nominated for an award by Derbyshire police's first annual Community Achievement Awards. Police in Portsmouth have been carrying out undercover operations to catch licensed premises selling to drunk people, according to the local news.

Watch online: Horizon 'Do I drink too much?' & C4's 'Red Lion' exploration of pub culture

This week's BBC2 broadcast of Horizon 'Do I drink too much?' is available to watch for one month on here via BBC iplayer. According to the synopsis:

'Addiction expert John Marsden, who likes a drink, makes a professional and personal exploration of our relationship with alcohol. He undergoes physical and neurological examinations to determine its impact, and finds out why some people will find it much harder than others to resist alcohol. Even at the age of 14 there may be a way of determining which healthy children will turn into addicts.'

It will also be shown on Friday 15th October 21:00 on BBC HD.

Channel 4 last night broadcast a documentary called 'The Red Lion', an exploration of British pub culture, available here on 4od. According to the synopsis:

Award-winning film-maker Sue Bourne sets off on a 3,000-mile journey to some of the country's 600 Red Lions - the most common pub name - to discover why pub culture is so central to British society. She wants to find out why we are still a nation of drinkers despite Government warnings about the dangers of drinking.

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)

Report examines transferable lessons for alcohol policy

Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published a report that examines case studies of non-alcohol related issues and considers the learnings and parallels for UK alcohol policy. The report, 'Changing attitudes, knowledge and behaviour: A review of successful initiatives', examines 7 key international case studies which offered potential learning for alcohol approaches:

1. Consistency in campaigning: Switzerland’s STOP AIDS campaign
2. Awareness raising, advocacy and policy formulation: Smokefree Scotland
3. Making travel greener: the InMotion campaign
4. The Florida ‘Truth’ tobacco counter marketing campaign
5. The Australian responsibility in gambling campaign
6. New approaches to speeding: Foolsspeed and ‘Pinkie’
7. Positive role models: the Trevor Project (gay and lesbian mental health)

The case study topics were chosen for their similarities with alcohol misuse as widely practised but harmful behaviours. The cases were identied as often addictive, socially condoned but where moderation or abstinence was seen as unappealing, difficult or socially embarrassing. The report found a number of key lessons that were transferable to alcohol harm reduction and policy including:

• Long term commitment is required to ensure a change in social norms
• Ownership of the problem needs to be mutually accepted - not only the problem drinker must play a role in changing alcohol ham in society
• (Re)Framing the problem and changing social norms is often important in engaging support and finding solutions. For example the case of framing smokefree legislation as a public health issue allowed it to overcome the counter-arguments of 'freedoms' and profits.
• Understanding the target(s) was imperative in looking at where behavior change needed to take place and the motivators for change. For example the 'Truth' tobacco campaign showed young people were not interested in health risks but were engaged by the idea of protest against the tobacco industry and it's manipulative practices.
• Planning is important in achieving defined and measurable objectives for change
• Positive offering - showing humour, empathy or positive messages can engage people's emotions as effectively as fear based messages.
• Multiple approaches are important as complex problems require multi-faceted responses in order to be effective.
• Competition was effective and necessary in some cases, tobacco initiatives faced active competition from the industry as public health and industry profit objectives are fundamentally opposed. Therefore voluntary self-regulation was not effective and strong statutory responses were required. (sound familiar?!)
• Research was important in developing and evaluating effective interventions

The report therefore presents some exciting ideas and further steer for alcohol policy direction. The importance of ongoing attention to strategic alcohol work and planned policy is highlighted through concluding:

"The cases support a lot of existing public health learning: complex problems need complex solutions; culture and norms take time to change; research is the foundation of effective action. They also generate some new ideas: that branding and relationship building also have traction in public health; that strategic planning is essential; that competitive analysis is a useful tool, and that positive appeals, humour and empathy can work as well as dire warnings."

LDAN and Alcohol Policy UK themed alcohol workshops

LDAN and Alcohol Policy UK have teamed up once again to present a brand new series of themed alcohol workshops for 2008/09.

Forthcoming events include:

• Dual diagnosis and alcohol...still falling through the gaps?

         19th November 2008

• Alcohol, faith and culture...supporting diverse communities
  

          18th December 2008

• Alcohol and street populations...multi-agency approaches

          23rd January 2009

• Housing continuing drinkers...points of intervention

          20th February 2009

Each workshop will cover:

•  the evidence on prevalence and best practice
•  current policy frameworks
•  tensions and possible solutions
•  interesting practice

Who should attend?

• Policy makers
• Service planners
• Practitioners

The first in the series: “Older People and Alcohol – A Demographic Time bomb?” took place on Thursday October 16th. A report on the seminar will be released shortly.

The workshops are FREE to attend but places are limited. To book please email info@ldan.org.uk with you name, job title, organisation and phone number or call 020 7704 0004 to speak to Ruth McQueen or Shona Flannigan (All sessions run from 2-4.30pm in a central London location, full venue details supplied on booking).

About us: Alcohol Policy UK is the news and analysis website for the alcohol harm reduction field that was set up by Libby Ranzetta in 2005. Contributors are an informal network of consultants, researchers and practitioners, keen to share 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. (www.ldan.org.uk) to book

These workshops are supported by GLADA (The Greater London Alcohol and Drug Alliance).

Consultation for 'Alcohol Academy' underway!

As the alcohol agenda has gained increasing momentum over recent years, more local authorities have been employing alcohol coordinators, and regional and central government departments have been given responsibilty to support national policy.  Many coordinators report to us the importance of best practice sharing and peer support as the work can be very challenging.

AERC has funded Ranzetta Consulting/alcoholpolicy.net to explore the need for a network of alcohol coordinators/local alcohol leads, and also the need for some training and knowledge exchange, which we are calling an ‘alcohol academy’ for this research.  We are seeking the views of local, regional and national alcohol leads, as well as key academics working in alcohol harm reduction.

We would therefore greatly appreciate your views on the possibilty of developing a network and academy if you have local, regional or national responsibility for alcohol harm reduction.  There are four questionnaires, for different sets of professionals: local coordinators and alcohol leads; their employers; regional alcohol leads; and national leads, as follows:

• Alcohol coordinator/lead consultation questions
• Alcohol lead employer consultation questions
• Regional alcohol leads consultation questions
• National alcohol leads consulation questions

Please either complete the relevant questionaire and return to james@ranzettaconsulting.co.uk or call 0208 392 87 38 to provide answers by phone or for any other comments or questions. Deadline for returns is the end of August!

News for 29/8/06

• Edinburgh: Street drinkers driven away from the Royal Mile have moved on to Princes Street Gardens where they have been blamed for creating a "nightmare".  Groups of up to 20 men and women have been congregating in the east side of the gardens, and drinking, fighting and harassing passers-by, throughout the day. A police crackdown during the Festival is believed to have temporarily pushed the drunks to the Meadows, but traders said today they feared they would return when it finishes next week.  Police are employing a little-used bylaw, controlling drinking in the city's parks, in an effort to clampdown on the problem.  The trouble has erupted since antisocial behaviour powers were used to disperse groups of drinkers gathering in Hunter Square.  The Scotsman

• Preston: More than 50 cans and bottles of alcohol have been seized from underage drinkers in a fortnight. The seized alcohol was taken from teens in renowned trouble-spots across South Ribble, including Dandy Brook Park in Lostock Hall, Cockshot Woods, Severn Drive and School Lane in Bamber Bridge.  The names of 25 youngsters were noted as part of a county-wide summer holiday clampdown called Operation Summer Nights, which finishes at the end of this month. In the operation officers use South Ribble Council's CCTV van and beat bobbies patrol anti-social behaviour hotspots.  Preston Today

• Hartlepool is the first town in the UK to specially protect and educate drug and alcohol users through a special pilot scheme.  Cleveland Fire Brigade has launched the home safety initiative for drug and alcohol addicts.  It follows the identification of this group as being more "vulnerable" than others, due to their addictions. In a bid to help them fully prepare for the eventuality of a blaze in their home, the brigade has teamed up with Safer Hartlepool Partnership, which provided funding for the scheme. Hartlepool woman Lindsay Galbraith, 25, is the brigade's drug and alcohol advocate, whose job is to raise fire safety awareness for this specialist group.  She will be referred to certain individuals from a number of sources including GPs, hospitals, police, probation and drug outreach workers.  Hartlepool Today

News for 27/8/06

• South Wales: Figures released to the Echo show arrests of drunk and disorderly revellers in Cardiff city centre and the Bay have increased by 121 per cent compared to the previous year.  Other parts of South Wales have seen smaller rises - including Bridgend where arrests have gone up by a third.  In Cardiff, since the Government's new 24-hour drinking laws were introduced every month has seen an increase in arrests compared to the same month a year earlier.  Police bosses say this is because officers are arresting heavy drinkers before they turn violent - and point to a significant reduction in the worst alcohol-related attacks, like glassings.  icWales

• SCOTLAND’S alcohol tsar has called on pubs and clubs to serve more food to prevent drink-fuelled violence. Tom Wood, a former deputy chief constable who advises the Scottish executive, believes serving chips, burgers as well as healthy options could reduce the number of assaults after closing time. Fast-food outlets are often a flashpoint for violence as people queue for takeaway meals after a night of heavy drinking. Wood’s intervention comes as the Scottish executive is considering asking landlords to provide sensible eating options as a condition of their licence. “For some time now we’ve seen situations where people leaving pubs have got themselves into big queues outside kebab houses or fish and chip shops where flashpoints and confrontations occur,” said Wood, who chairs the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams. “The best thing to do would be to prevent [people] getting drunk in the first place rather than wait for them to get drunk then give them a pie. But if they did serve more food, it could reduce some of the trouble,” he went on to add. Times Online

• Wigan: Police seized Class A drugs and more than 100 cans and bottles of alcohol from youths who used the Internet to co-ordinate their illegal activities.  The major crackdown follows a month-long intelligence-gathering operation in Shevington after complaints from residents about large gangs of teenagers, sometimes 100 strong, congregating on playing fields at the rear of the village's youth club at night to binge on alcohol.  Police discovered many of the youths were travelling from Marsh Green, Worsley Hall, Beech Hill, Standish, Appley Bridge, Aspull and even Leigh, using an online instant messaging service and chatrooms to arrange when and where to meet up.  Extra patrols were deployed to target the youths and police confiscated vast quantities of beer, cider and alcopops, as well as 11 Ecstasy tablets and a large bag of "skunk" weed with street value of £80.  Police believe young adults in the gangs are buying the booze to sell to younger members, some as young as 12.  But officers even came across one 15-year-old girl who was dropped off at the fields, complete with alcohol, by her parents.  Wigan News