Alcohol Policy UK

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

Local alcohol profiles for England

The North West Public Health Observatory recently updated its alcohol resources to include profiles of alcohol-related harm for all English local authorities.  The indicators of alcohol-related harm used in the profiles are (all alcohol-related):

• months of life lost
• mortality from chronic liver disease
• alcohol-related hospital admissions
• alcohol-specific hospital admissions
• recorded crime
• violent offences
• sexual offence
• synthetic estimate of binge drinking

The profiles rank each local authority by region and nationally for each indicator. 

Comparable alcohol data is currently very limited, but the profiles cover as many bases as possible.  At local level it will be useful to unpack some of the indicators to understand what the particular issues are - eg drink driving, or cardiovascular disease.
We do need to develop objectives measures for other areas of alcohol-related harm such as lost productivity in the workplace, family breakdown, and domestic violence but this is still a fantastic resource for local alcohol strategy development and monitoring.  Highly recommended.

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

News for 26/8/06

• Isle of Man: Young people will be helping their peers tackle the dangers of binge drinking by January. The Alcohol Advisory Service will next month begin advertising for 12 peer educators, aged 17 and 18, from Ballakermeen High School, the Isle of Man College and the Department of Education's youth service.  The idea is to target binge drinking. It is widely believed young people are more likely to listen to health education messages delivered by their peers.  The teenagers will receive eight hours of training in October and November and will then be asked to put together a project, with help from the service.  Alcohol Advisory Service deputy manager Kay Mylchreest said: 'It's very much up to them. We are not telling them what kind of projects we want them to do.'  Projects could include outreach work, writing for the school newsletter, the internet, art, drama and helping the service with its in-school education.  Isle of Man Today

• More on Thursday's story about a local alcohol service getting 10p per pint of a new Nottingham beer: Seven Wetherspoon pubs in Nottingham are serving a new low alcohol beer – as part of their approach to responsible drinking.  The beer, XXS, pronounced ‘to excess’, was launched at the Roebuck pub, with Nottingham MP Graham Allen attending the event.  The beer, brewed by Nottingham Brewery, has an ABV of 3.8 per cent.  Ten pence from each pint sold in each of the Wetherspoon pubs will go to the city’s Alcohol Problems Advisory Service (APAS).  Police and licensing chiefs in Nottingham are also backing the beer.  Wetherspoon area manager James Le Gassick said: “ I am delighted that our pubs are supporting this initiative.  It is a great tasting beer and the aim is to make more people aware of the issues associated with drinking to excess.”  The Publican

• Pubs can expect more calls for tighter controls on 'unhealthy' food and drink after new government figures revealed that obesity levels continue to rise.  The figures will increase calls for more information on fat and salt content in dishes on pub menus, as well as tighter controls on advertising to children. Broadcast watchdog Ofcom is due to rule in the next few weeks on proposals to block TV advertising of products such as crisps, chocolate and high sugar soft drinks before the 9pm watershed.  Hopes that the industry might present a united front were dashed almost as soon as the report was published. Julian Hunt, communications director of the Food & Drink Federation, appeared to deflect blame away from so-called 'junk food' onto the drinks industry, telling the BBC "we need to drink less alcohol".  The Publican

• Underage drinkers gathering in parks in a Nottinghamshire town have been targeted in a council crackdown.  Wardens have been patrolling in Spider Park, near Berry Hill Road, Mansfield, where residents said gangs of up to 80 youths had been congregating.  The wardens turned away underage drinkers and police confiscated alcohol as part of the initiative.  The authority has been targeting parks across the town as part of the scheme, which also aims to reduce vandalism.  BBC News

News for 25/8/06

There may come a time quite soon when I stop highlighting stories of police targetting underage drinkers; they seem to crop up most days.  Local newspapers must like reporting this kind of activity - presumably it's popular with readers.  Certainly whenever I talk to lay people about alcohol issues, they invariably mention young people's drinking and the need to Do Something about it.  Anyway, here goes with today's story..

• Police in Ross-shire have started a blitz on under-age drinkers by seeking them out and confiscating their booze. They believe the crackdown will not only help to reduce violence and vandalism caused by drink-fuelled youngsters, but also prevent them from harming themselves by alcohol abuse.  Dingwall-based deputy area police commander Chief Inspector Paul Eddington this week confirmed that officers were actively seeking out under-age drinkers in Rossshire communities and impounding their drink.  "We're enforcing and will continue to enforce this policy very strictly.  Officers took a full bottle of spiced rum off a 16-yearold boy in Dingwall last weekend and 15 cans of lager off another Dingwall boy the same age. While these items might well have been intended for sharing, a bottle of rum or 15 cans of lager in teenage hands is verging on the dangerous. We take alcohol off them to protect them. Highland News
  

• EAST Lothian: alcohol-related offences have risen from 14.1 per cent of total convictions at Haddington Sheriff Court in 2002/03, to 18.5 per cent in 2003/04, increasing again to 20.5 per cent in 2004/5.  Drug-related offences were at 1.3 per cent in 2002/03. They rose slightly in 2003/04 to 1.6 per cent then increased substantially to 9.4 per cent in 2004/05.  South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame said the figures represent a “worrying trend”.  Ms Grahame said: “The figures show more help is needed to tackle the extent of drink and drug offending, particularly amongst young women.  We are seeing a growing number being convicted for drink driving, and more and more having serious health problems related to drink.  Part of this will be down to the so-called ‘ladette’ culture which encourages young women to behave more aggressively and act in ways deemed anti-social.  What these figures indicate is that this culture is rapidly translating itself into offending behaviour."  East Lothian Courier

News for 24/8/06

• Bournemouth licensees, have clubbed together with police and the local council to appointed a night-time co-ordinator to oversee the town’s after dark economy.  Those behind the scheme say it is the first of its kind in Britain.  Chairman of Bournemouth Town Watch Group Steve Hudson said:  “Bournemouth is a town at the forefront of schemes to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for all who come here at night.  The coordinator will be responsible for planning and developing practical initiatives with the various key stake holders, working within Bournemouth’s night time economy.  They will also help deliver the vision of the Bournemouth Quality Nights Initiative to make the town safe, inclusive, market leading, sustainable and exciting.”  Morning Advertiser

• Essex Police has launched its Safer Bars Accreditation scheme to promote responsible retailing.  The scheme provides clear guidance and benchmarks on the standards expected for clubs, bars and pubs to promote the objectives set out in the Licensing Act.  Licensing project and alcohol co-ordinator Sgt Nigel Dermott said: “Many problems are seen to be linked with clubs, bars and pubs.   Spreading best practice, by giving staff proper training and creating a safe working environment through having policies that are visibly being operated can make all the difference. Having the involvement and support of the trade is vital to the success of the scheme which will drive up the standards that licensed premises should strive towards.”  The Publican  More details from Essex Police

• An action plan to tackle alcohol abuse has been branded a failure by a leading addictions expert. Prof Neil McKeganey said some problems had got worse since a 2002 Scottish Executive document set out plans to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. Since then alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions had gone up and underage drinking has risen, he said. Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald defended the executive's plans and said it took time to tackle the problem. The executive is working on a new strategy and is planning to publish an updated action plan in the next few months. BBC  Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems

• An organisation representing Scottish pubs and hotels has claimed the smoking ban has driven away regular drinkers. The Scottish Licensed Trade Association surveyed 365 members and said sales of alcohol appeared to have fallen by more than 10% since the ban was introduced. Paul Waterson, the chief executive of the SLTA, said the effects of the ban were "bad enough" at the moment and there would be "worse to come".  However, many pubs and hotels have spoken out in favour of the ban.  They say a large number of SLTA members did not reply to the survey. Smoking was banned in enclosed public places in Scotland, including pubs and restaurants, on 26 March.  BBC News

• A Nottingham charity that helps people with drink problems is to get extra funding from the sale of a new beer.  The Radford-based Nottingham Brewery has agreed that 10p from every pint of the new beer will go to the Alcohol Problems Advisory Services (Apas). The brew, XXS, was launched on August 22nd at the brewery's pub, The Plough Inn. The charity said the move might raise a few eyebrows but it was a partnership which promoted responsible drinking and supported future projects.  Nick Tegerdine, from Apas, said the name of the beer, a pun on the words "to excess", underlined the philosophy of the initiative. "We were looking for a company that had similar values to us, that promoted responsible retailing, responsible drinking and quality and the Nottingham Brewery fitted the bill. It is ironic we have to take money from the brewing industry in order to keep these vital services going but that is the reality of it and we chose our partner carefully."  BBC News

Alcohol coordinator posts

Two new posts:

Alcohol Strategy Development Coordinator, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
Closing date 1st September

Alcohol Intervention Officer, Halton Borough Council
Closing date 15th September

News for 23/8/06

APUK is back from holiday today with news and views on the UK alcohol field. 

• Portsmouth: Police are pouring gallons of alcohol down the drains in swoops on gangs of teenagers to stop anti-social behaviour as part of the Operations Queens summer initiative.  Police say the north of the city in particular is suffering from drink-fuelled gangs causing a nuisance. In some instances teenagers have been shouting and screaming until early morning and being abusive to anyone who challenges them. In others, cars have been vandalised and gardens trampled as the the under-age drinkers stagger home.  Portsmouth.co.uk

• More and more girls under the age of 16 are arriving drunk at one of Ulster's top accident and emergency units.  And they have helped the number of patients over the drink-drive limit presenting at Belfast City Hospital, to soar by 113% in just five years.  A major new study showed that during that period the number of drunk women almost doubled from 203 to 401.  And at least once a week casualty doctors and nurses are dealing with either a man or woman comotose through drink. In one case, the patient was nearly 10 times over the limit.  The study in the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) said that among the under-16s, there were more drunk girls than boys.  The study covered two periods between September 1999 and August 2000 and from September 2003 to August 2004. Belfast Telegraph, EMJ abstract

• New figures from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) and The Drinkaware Trust suggest that more than a fifth of the population have had alcohol related injuries.  Of those questioned 22 per cent have injured themselves while drunk and BCA chiropractors see 2,400 patients a month with injuries sustained while under the influence of alcohol.  The Publican, BCA press release with more detail via here

• More than a quarter of underage youths in Edinburgh binge drink at least once each month, according to new research.  About 17,000 pupils aged 12 to 17 were interviewed as part of the Edinburgh City Council study.  It found that about one in six admitted being regular drinkers - while a similar number had taken drugs or sniffed glue.  One in three said they had stolen or tried to steal something at some point during their lives.  The survey was carried out between October 2005 and March in 35 secondary schools across Edinburgh.  Scotsman

• Alcohol-free discos are to start in the Scottish Borders later this year.  The "Blue Light" discos will require everyone attending to be breathalysed and searched at the door before being allowed entry.  Anyone who has been drinking or taking drugs will be stopped and offered on-the-spot support from volunteers. Their parents will also be contacted.  The discos have been credited with helping to reduce youth offending in other parts of the country.  The events will be run jointly by local youth groups, community services and the police.  The first one in the Borders is planned for September at the Focus Centre in Galashiels.  BBC Scotland

News for 7/8/06

• Police in East Anglia are cracking down on yobs and street drunks by making more use of “summary justice” fines.  June alone, more than 400 on-the-spot, fixed penalty fines were handed out - the equivalent of 13 a day.  During the first month of these extended powers coming into force 416 fines were issued in Norfolk. In May, before the introduction, just 65 were issued across the county.  The majority of the tickets issued in June - 327 - were for public order offences and notices were often given for incidents involving alcohol.  EDP24

• Scotland: At least nine babies are being left permanently brain damaged every year by their binge-drinking mothers.  Figures released by the Scottish executive health department show that about 60 babies have been born with FAS over the past decade.  Nine were born with the condition in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available. The number of babies suffering from FAS has more than doubled over the past decade.  Experts believe the official statistics, which provide the first snapshot of the problem, may only represent the tip of the iceberg as Scots women are drinking more than ever before.  Times Online

News for 6/8/06

• WORKINGTON’S award-winning Pubwatch scheme has helped police cut violent crime in the town by more than 25 per cent.  It is proving so successful that drinkers are now said to be more frightened of being banned from their favourite watering holes than being banged up in police cells.  The turnaround has been helped by the upgrading of CCTV cameras as well as new security lighting.  News & Star

• Research published by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University and the North West Public Health Observatory, based on figures from 2004 to 2006, shows that across all of England, 18.2% of adults binge drink at least double the daily recommended level in one or more sessions a week, based on the week in which they were questioned.  But the biggest binge drinkers lived in the North East and North West (23% of adults) compared to those in the South East, South West and East of England (less than 16%). And experts warned that Britain had gone from a nation "enjoying a harmless tipple" to one developing "a dangerous alcohol addiction".  In Newcastle upon Tyne, Liverpool and Durham, more than 27% of adults said they binge drink, compared to areas such as East Dorset, where less than 10% of adults do so.  The Guardian   BBC story here.

Comments by Mark Bellis appearing to blame the situation on drinking withing the night time economy have been criticised by some in the on-licensed trade, who argue that 60% of alcohol is bought in supermarkets.  Morning Advertiser   [The link to the research hasn't been published yet; more on this shortly]

• Binge drinking has spread to women in their forties, a survey says.  Middle-aged women are missing work through hangovers and even passing out after a night's drinking, like people half their age, as they struggle to cope with stress.  The survey of 1,000 readers of a women's magazine suggests that the increase in drinking among older women could be part of a culture learned when they were younger, but a third of women aged over 30 said they were drinking more than they did in their teens and twenties.  The Telegraph

• Almost half of all fire deaths in Tayside last year occurred as a direct result of alcohol, it has been revealed, as a campaign was launched to highlight the dangers of fuelling fire with drink.  There were seven fatal fires between April 2005 and March 2006, with three a direct result of alcohol consumption. Tayside had the second highest alcohol-related fire deaths in Scotland, behind Strathclyde where there were 15.  All Scotland’s fire and rescue services joined forces to launch the new campaign, which includes a TV advert, to raise awareness of the direct link between alcohol misuse and accidental deaths.  The campaign is targeting males between 30 and 59, as statistics show they are at higher risk of having an alcohol-related fire in the home.  Evening Telegraph.   Evening Telegraph on a Glasgow fire death.   Previous post on alcohol related fire

• United London has been appointed by the Department of Health, in partnership with the Home Office, to handle its £3.5m multimedia sensible drinking campaign.  The activity is aimed at encouraging sensible drinking among young people - the campaign will target 16- to 24-year-old drinkers in England.  The drive is part of the government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and is the first step in a push to change the drinking habits of young people.  Launching in the autumn, the campaign will include TV, cinema, radio, press, online and ambient advertising, supported by a PR strategy.   Creative Bulletin

• Scotland: Children as young as eight are being referred to the children's reporter with drink and drug problems, figures have revealed for the first time.  Referrals are made if social workers, the police or school teachers are sufficiently worried, about the welfare of individuals. The number of children 16 and under coming before a hearing because of alcohol or narcotic abuse fell from 219 in 2003-4 to 160 the following year. But the figures for 2004-5 revealed a worrying rise in very young children with drink and drug problems, with a small number of children under ten being referred to the panel, compared with none the previous year.  Scotsman

• Scotland: More than 30 licensed premises have been reported for selling alcohol to under-age customers in the first month of a pioneering police project using "undercover" children.  Supermarkets, pubs and corner shops were among those caught in the operation in Fife, the first of its kind in Scotland.  The operation is likely to be introduced throughout the country next year following the year-long project.  The Herald