Alcohol Policy UK

Local action on alcohol: a new era

The alcohol harm reduction field has long argued that central government targets are needed to drive action on alcohol. The targets have now arrived. There are also powerful new drivers and opportunities to give alcohol its due priority at local level, and to secure mainstream and area based funding.

This is a new era for local action on alcohol in England, heralded by the updated national alcohol strategy Safe. Sensible. Social.  which, unlike its predecessor, has managed to acquire some teeth in the form of a new Public Service Agreement, new statutory duties on local partnerships, and the new commissioning framework for health and social care.

Download an overview  Local action on alcohol: a new era

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.

Insurers get tough on excessive drinkers

• Stricter attitudes by insurers towards alcohol-related questions on protection application forms could be encouraging further non-disclosure, it has been warned. Kevin Carr, head of protection strategy at LifeSearch, said several insurers are starting to take a harsher approach to alcohol consumption and a major reinsurer is also considering changing its stance. One insurer has started declining cover for people who consume over 40 units a week, while others are loading premiums by 50-100%. Carr warned that this could encourage non-disclosure because, other than in the case of alcoholics, it is impossible to prove how much someone drank when they applied. 

“Alcohol consumption is very difficult to measure – it is not like smoking where you either do or you don’t.  If people put down an honest consumption of, say, 30 units a week and then get quoted higher premiums, it could encourage people to lie about their alcohol intake.”

He suggested the move was another attempt at “cherry-picking” and warned it could move the industry even closer to a preferred life basis. Paul Keeble, spokesman for Standard Life, said that in the near future if an applicant drinks more than 30 units a week the insurer will ask for a report from the client’s doctor and possibly a liver function test.

“I suspect, though I have no evidence, that there will be a number of insurers that will rate more often on the information given on alcohol than they would have in the past,” said Keeble. Meanwhile, Mike Whyte, chief underwriter at Norwich Union, said it will consider loading a 40 year-old male whose alcohol consumption is over 50 units a week and a 40 year-old female who drinks over 35 units a week.  Health Insurance and Protection

• Britons holidaying abroad spend around £4.5 billion on alcohol each year and seem unaware that being under the influence can invalidate their travel insurance. Moneysupermarket.com conducted research which found Britons make a total of 53 million trips overseas each year and the average amount each adult spends on drinking is nearly £85. Those claiming for an injury sustained while on holiday could find their insurer refuses to pay out if it was caused by being drunk. Peter Gerrard, head of insurance research at moneysupermarket.com, said it is rare an insurer discovers the injury is a result of too much to drink, but warned that if they do discover it, the claim could be voided. He said:

"It is a little known fact that travel insurance policies have a clause stating if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of an incident, your policy may be rendered invalid." (Like in the case of Kathleen Ackers) London Stock Exchange

Research news: alcohol-related murder; alcohol-related breast cancer

• Scotland: Alcohol was a factor in twice as many murders as previously thought due to a mistake in official figures. Last year, figures were published showing drink played a part in 19% of such incidents but the actual figure should have been 41%. It means 57 people accused of murder in 2005/6 were reported to have been drunk at the time. Just 13 people (9%), not the 41% previously stated, were reported to be under the influence of drugs. The Scottish Government said the mistake was produced by statisticians in the previous administration. BBC News

• Three or more drinks a day, whether beer, wine or spirits, boost a woman's risk of breast cancer as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes, U.S. researchers have found. The relationship between alcohol and breast cancer is known but there has been little data on whether the choice of drink made a difference. In what the researchers said was one of the largest studies to investigate links between breast cancer and alcohol -- found that alcohol itself and the amount a person consumed were key rather than the type of drink. Arthur Klatsky of Kaiser Permanente in California and one of the researchers said:

"Studies have consistently linked drinking alcohol to an increased risk of female breast cancer, but until now there has been little data, most of it conflicting, about an independent role played by the choice of beverage type" Reuters

JRF call for proposals:research on the transmission of drinking cultures

The JRF Alcohol Research Committee (ARC) has recently been set up and will be funding research and development in the alcohol field over a three-year period (2007-2009). The ARC’s overall aim is to collect and use evidence to contribute to halting or reversing negative drinking cultures and patterns in the UK in order to reduce problems or harm.

Proposals are sought for research on how drinking cultures are transmitted from one group to another. The key domains that JRF have identified are:

• the family
• teenage peer groups
• geographical locality
• the workplace
• the media

The ARC wish to fund primary research which explores how drinking culture is transmitted through these domains.   A maximum of £200,000 is available under this call for proposals. Closing date 6th November.  Details here.