Alcohol Policy UK

Alcohol harm-reduction and the World Cup: Operation Summer Nights

Lancashire Constabulary's assistant chief constable Mike Cunningham launched Operation Summer Nights yesterday, a partnership campaign to tackle alcohol-related crime (including domestic violence) which is expected to rise during the World Cup.  Stories here and  here.

In 2005 Operation Summer Nights saw all recorded crime fall by 10%, violent crime reduced by 13%, arson reduced by 7% and criminal damage reduced by 7%.  Details on the Lancashire Constabulary site here.

  Cunningham said at the launch:

Operation Summer Nights is about letting people know that it is all right to have a good time but not at the expense of others. Our message is "Drink sensibly this summer."

Aims of Operation Summer Nights:

• To reassure the public that agencies are working together to tackle anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related crime and criminal damage at a critical time of year when we often experience an increase - particularly in relation to incidents arising from drinking.
• To reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related crime and criminal damage and Domestic Violence.
• To increase public confidence and improve feelings of safety.
• To build on the positive work and behaviour of most young people, encouraging everyone to make respecting themselves and others a greater consideration.

Partners working with police include local emergency services, Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority, Lancashire County Council, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, local Youth Offending Teams, Lancashire Youth and Community Service, each of the Borough Crime and Disorder Partnerships, Connexions Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen Council, Blackpool Borough Council, The Lancashire Young Person's Alcohol Project, The Crown Prosecution Service, Trading Standards and the Lancashire Drugs Action Team.

Service user involvement: Mystery Shopping in Lewisham

Out of It?  is Lewisham’s service user involvement team, which meets monthly in order to learn new skills and work towards influencing substance misuse service development and delivery in Lewisham. In the Autumn/Winter of 2005 they carried out some mystery shopping research into local substance misuse services.  The following is adapted from their report OUT OF IT? Mystery Shopping Report (January 2006).

Introduction
Mystery Shopping is a technique for obtaining feedback about services by service users.  It aims to empower service users to identify the aspects of a service which they deem to be important and then to carry out fieldwork to assess services according to these identified criteria.  The exercise is always carried out with full understanding and cooperation of service providers and commissioners. 

Mystery shopping does not aim to penalise services or ‘catch them out’.  The aim is to support service providers to enable their services to provide a relevant service to clients. Mystery shopping is also beneficial to those carrying out the exercise as skills are developed in designing the checklist criteria which is used when visiting and/or contacting services and in assessing the service.  Training is provided to enable the exercise to be carried out as effectively as possible.

Aims and Objectives of the Project

• To make a difference
• To help to improve substance misuse services in the borough
• To work alongside service providers providing the service user view point, experience and expertise
• To break down barriers for clients accessing services and to improve communication between service users and service providers.

Method
Out of it? consists of four women and three men with a range of experience of using different services within the borough. Training for the research was provided by the team's external faciliator, who also offered support to the mystery shopping visits and calls.
Key elements for the research were identified as follows:

• Accessibility – is the service easy to access?
• Initial contact – are staff friendly and helpful?
• Environment – how is the physical environment?
• Services available – is it clear what services are available?
• Promotional materials – how is the service advertised?  What are the leaflets like?
• Is a signposting service offered?

Question prompts

• What is available here?
• I’m thinking of trying to stabilise my drug/alcohol use – what help can you offer me?
• Do you know of any services that are open on the weekends?
• Could you give me some information on methadone?
• My friend has a problem – how can you help him/her?
• If I wanted to get some help from this service – what would I have to do?
• What happens if I have my kids with me?
• Can I see a male worker?/Can I see a female worker?/Can I see a gay/lesbian worker?
• Can you give me some fares so that I can go to another service?
• Do you have any leaflets that I can take away with me?

The team worked in pairs and ‘shopped’ the services by making telephone contact with the services and visiting the services.  This involved members of the team asking questions of the service (see above) but not going through an assessment process. After each visit the shoppers completed the questionnaire, recalling the information from the visit.  6 services were visited.

Findings
The findings for each service visited are detailed in the Out of it? report.  They include:

• one service was closed twice when the shopper tried to visit (once for a staff meeting; no alternative contact details were left on the door for visitors).  The shopper then tried to make contact by telephone but the call was unanswered. When the shopper eventually did get to talk to a worker, s/he was friendly and helpful, although information that was promised was not received
• the shopper felt intimidated by a number of people 'hanging about' outside another service.  Once inside, the waiting area was 'very untidy', and two  requests to talk to the duty worker in private were not granted
• one of the statutory services is only acessible by telephone three days a week between 9.30 and 12.30

The shoppers also reported positive aspects of the services, for example they felt welcome at a service that had a clean, pleasant waiting area, where staff were helpful and freindly, and were acknowldged by staff and offered refreshments as they waited to see a worker. 

Other issues and conclusions
The team shrank from 7 to 4 during the project, largely due to relapse and loss of contact.  This meant not all services were contacted.

The team felt that there needs to be a better way of identifying substance misuse services that are based in the community, so it is clear to service users what they are, but perahps less obvious to members of the public. 

The first point of contact is also important.  Presenting at a new service, even for individuals who have previous experience of services can be intimidating and can provoke anxiety.  How the mystery shopper was received by the service and treated within the first 60 seconds of entering the project made a considerable impact on the perceptions of that service and how helpful it was believed to be.

Acknowledgements

With thanks to Out of it? for sharing this information, also Jane Walker (facilitator) and Fizz Annand (Lewisham Drug Strategy Team Manager)

Alcohol related ASB and the role of parents

Young people (13 to 18) appear to have been causing problems in Bradwell, near Yarmouth in Norfolk, and in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire - drinking in public places and engaging in anti-social behaviour including vandalism, disorder and assault. 

In reports from Norfolk's EDP24, and Avon and Somerset police website, the police suggest much of the alcohol is being supplied by parents.

Of course it is right to educate young people about the risks associated with alcohol, but here is a clear demonstration of why the role of parents should also be addressed in local alcohol strategy.

New survey of young people's drinking habits, Scotland

A study into the drinking habits of 18 to 35 year olds in Scotland, commissioned by the Executive, has surveyed 300 people on the streets of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Falkirk. Main findings:

• Almost half admitted drinking when feeling stressed
• Six in ten said they knew they spend too much on alcohol
• Most drank more than they planned to during a night out (88% in Glasgow, 64% in Edinburgh)
• Many found it hard to stop drinking once they had started (more than half in Glasgow, a third in Edinburgh)
• Everyone surveyed in Aberdeen reported memory loss through drinking – almost half in the last week
• 90% in Falkirk said drinking was part of their lifestyle, 78% in Edinburgh, 81% in Aberdeen, 86% in Glasgow
• Almost three quarters of all those surveyed felt they had less fun out on the town if they didn’t drink

Sources: Evening Times, Daily Record

News from Drugs and Alcohol Today

From the Drugs and Alcohol Today event yesterday in London:

• MOCAM will be 'out within a month' - Don Lavoie (Dept of Health Alcohol Team) in the Local Alcohol Strategies seminar. 
• The effectiveness review of treatment will be published some time after that.
• There will be a move towards pooling drugs money in Local Agrea Agreement budgets, so it can be spent according to locally defined needs (ie on alcohol) - Vic Hogg (Director, Home Office Drug Strategy Directorate) in the panel debate.

On the last point, see also this ODPM news release from the end of March announing the automatic pooling of a number of funding streams, including the Drug Strategy Partnership Support Grant.  So far as we know, Government Offices have been turning down requests to pool other drugs funding streams but perhaps there is hope.

LACORS guidance on licence reviews

From Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS):

Under the new licensing laws, anyone unhappy with a licensed premises in their area, can ask their licensing authority to consider reviewing that licence. Interested parties such as residents and responsible authorities, can make applications for review on one of the four licensing objectives such as ‘the prevention of crime and disorder’ or ‘the prevention of public nuisance’. Reviews are free of charge for those applying.

Now the new licensing laws have been in place for several months, increasing numbers of residents are exercising this right; and more and more licensing authorities are facing the prospect of implementing costly reviews as a result. In response to this growing issue, LACORS has issued new guidance specifically covering the review provision within the new licensing legislation.

LACORS are advising licensing authorities to mediate as far as possible when review applications are received.   The Guidance is available free to local authorities, or for a small charge to non-local authorities.    Details here.

Best Bar None schemes spread

Home Office guidance Tackling alcohol-fuelled disorder in town and city centres (available via the Together site) says this:

Best Bar None sets down a standard of operation for the management of licensed premises. Premises gaining accreditation under the scheme have been shown to exhibit higher standards of customer care and experience lower levels of crime and disorder.

Developed in Manchester as part of their City Centre Safe programme, it is now being rolled out across the UK as a key component of the Tackling Violent Crime Programme. It is increasingly used as a strategic option to strengthen relationships with industry stakeholders as the licensing laws change.

Best Bar None’s key principles include: • Use an intrusive, comprehensive but locally flexible accreditation process that makes use of multi-agency inspection visits to premises. • Issue visible wall plaques with the scheme’s distinctive design elements to create a ‘kite mark’ for safe and well-run licensed premises • Hold an annual awards dinner to recognise achievement and cement community links between enforcement personnel and licensees.

Central assistance is available in developing and implementing local schemes, which includes the training of Best Bar None assessors from all stakeholder groups. Involving these groups – for example the police, local authority, health professionals and residents - is an excellent way of energising partners to work.

Greater Manchester Police are now planning national Best Bar None awards, with regional winners competing for the top prize at the end of 2006 (see The Publican).   Exisiting schemes include the following:

• Manchester Best Bar None (the original).  City Safe info here via the Civic Trust.
• Croydon Best Bar None (the first one in London, now well established).  Croydon Council info here.
• Leeds Best Bar None.  Leeds Today story here.
• Responsible Hosts Awards Scheme, Ealing.  Ealing Times story here.
• Essex Safer Bars Accreditation initiative, in association with Best Bar None.  The Publican story here.
• Dundee Best Bar None. Evening Telegraph & Post story here.
• Nottingham Best Bar None.  The Publican story here.
• West Yorkshire Best Bar None.  West Yorkshire Police info here.
• Plymouth Best Bar None. Devon and Cornwall Police info here.
• Coventry Best Bar None.  Coventry City Council info here.
• Liverpool Best Bar None. Mitchells & Butlers press release here.
• Weston-super-Mare Best Bar None. North Somerset Council info here.
• Bristol Best Bar None.  Bristol City Council info here.
• York Best Bar None.  Nouse story here.
• Newcastle-under-Lyme Best Bar None.  Keele University story here.
• Newcastle Best Bar None. Northumbria Police info here.
• Glasgow Best Bar None.  Evening Times story here.
• Lancashire Nightsafe Best Bar None.  Lancs Police info here.
• Southampton Best Bar None. Southampton City Council info here.

Health benefits of moderate drinking may be exaggerated

A study led by Tim Stockwell of University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia has investigated a criticism of alcohol research that many previous studies made a consistent and serious error of including as ‘abstainers’ people who had reduced or stopped drinking due to declining health, frailty, medication use or disability. The research team found that the few studies without this error showed no evidence of health benefits.

They found that only seven of 54 studies reviewed properly compared light drinkers with long-term abstainers. The results of these seven studies showed no reduction in risk of death among the light drinkers compared with abstainers. The other 47 studies showed significantly lower risk of death among light drinkers compared with a group of ‘abstainers’ that included people who had recently cut down or stopped drinking.

The authors caution that their report, published in the April 2006 issue of Addiction Research and Theory has not disproved the notion that light drinking is good for health as too few error-free studies have been performed. They suggest, however, that the extent to which these benefits actually translate into longer life may have been exaggerated.

Research published here.
Background info here.