Alcohol Policy UK

Alcohol Awareness Week (19th October) stakeholder pack released

The NHS have released Alcohol Awareness Week in England and Wales 19-25 October 2009: A guide to getting involved which states:

'Alcohol Awareness Week in England and Wales runs from 19 October to 25 October 2009 and aims to encourage adults to think about how much they are drinking. The Department of Health in England's Know Your Limits Units campaign is using the week to raise awareness of the health risks of drinking above the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) recommended lower-risk limits for regular drinking, and to provide straight-forward help for those who want to cut back. The campaign is encouraging people to keep a simple drink diary for the week to learn whether their drinking could be putting them at risk'

The pack contains guidance and resources for the following:

• Activity ideas
• Evaluation form
• Media
• Template press release
• Did you know? Units quiz
• Drink diary
• Q&As
• Know Your Limits Units materials
• The Know Your Limits campaign

Alcohol Concern are also promoting the week and have produced this Alcohol Awareness Week Pack to promote local promotion. The pack recommends local activity ideas such as: writing a letter to local media editors; inviting your MP to visit a local treatment service; organising a stakeholder’s event and organising an information stand.

Alcohol Concern are also 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.

SIPS update: Primary care SBI research outline and half-day conference

A document detailing the SIPS research programme into Screening and Brief Interventions (SBIs) in primary care has been released, outlining the focus of the studies, delivery and relevant hypotheses, but not research findings as yet.

Screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol use in primary care: a cluster randomised controlled trial protocol (pdf) outlines how the study will address key questions such as: the applicability of the evidence to routine practice; the most efficient strategy for screening patients; and the required intensity of brief intervention in primary care.

SIPS will be delivering a free half-day seminar on the 7th October in Gateshead, as a pre-conference symposium to the 6th Conference of Inebria on the 8-9th October. Places are not guaranteed as they will be prioritised for those paying for the full conference. See here to register.

News updates: record arrests for alcohol offenders; plastic glasses; door staff body camera pilot

Manchester police Police crackdown on drunken crime

A total of 529 people have been arrested in Greater Manchester in a major police operation targeting alcohol-related violent crime, according BBC and Guardian reports. The number of arrests is the largest for an single police operation and involved up to 3,000 police officers and staff. Deputy Chief Constable Simon Byrne said:

"We want to send out the message that if you've committed a crime we're after you, and  if you're intent on alcohol-fuelled crime you'll see a lot more of this. We know who has committed crimes and we have got the resources in place to arrest them, bring them in and charge them.

Home Office commissions toughened plastic glasses

The Home Office has commissioned the Design Council to develop a replacement pint glass in order to reduce the 5,500 victims of attacks from glasses and bottles every year in England and Wales. Pint glass related injuries are reported to cost the tax payer £100m a year in police and NHS bills.

The British Beer and Pub Association spoke out against the move, arguing that drinkers prefer traditional pint glasses and that "It would impose another cost on [the pub trade]. Red tape is already coming from all sides." This Guardian article in the comment section also provoked general displeasure at the proposals, though reaction seems to be based on the assumption that glasses in all pubs would be replaced, rather than just those associated with violence. Results of the 'Design out crime' project will be released in December. See this BBC story for more.

Bouncers in Nottingham to pilot lapel cameras

The Nottingham Leisure Partnership is funding a pilot that will enable door-staff in Nottingham's alcohol-related crime hot-spots to record footage via small body mounted cameras. The pilot aims to improve the safety for staff as well as being a potential source of evidence for alcohol fuelled violence. See this local news story

Home Office release 'The practical guide for preventing and dealing with alcohol related problems'

'The practical guide for preventing and dealing with alcohol related problems: What you need to know' (pdf) is now available.

"This Practical Guide is the essential reference for all those responsible for, and with an interest in, tackling alcohol-related crime and disorder. It also provides clear and comprehensive guidance to the tools and powers available to enforcement authorities and provides for them examples of good practice, specimen forms and decision-making flowcharts.

Also available are a series of flyers outlining the relevant alcohol-related offences and powers for practitioners including police licensing officers and trading standards officers.

A series of 40 free alcohol enforcement skills development seminars are also being delivered by the Home Office.

Tories plan tax hikes on cheap drinks

The Conservative party leader David Cameron has proposed significant taxes on specific drinks to tackle the “unbelievably low prices of some alcohol” and "loss-leading" by supermarkets. The taxes would be targeted at alcopops, strong lager and high-strength cider - the low cost drinks often favoured by binge and heavy drinkers.

The plans present a different approach to addressing concerns about the price and availability of cheap alcohol, to those currently promoted by health professionals and academics. Over recent years, calls for a 'minimum pricing' approach have been increasingly raised by health professionals, Alcohol Concern and the Chief Medical Officer. Whilst the current administration has so far rejected these calls, Scotland has been taking measures to set up a minimum price.

A Daily Mail story reports that Cameron's new proposals would mean 'extra-strong lager such as Carlsberg Special Brew costing an extra £1.30, a bottle of powerful cider an extra £1.25 and a bottle of alcopop an extra 50p. But duty on low alcohol products would be slashed.' It was claimed though that wines, spirits and 90 per cent of the beer and cider consumed in Britain would not be affected.

The Independent reported that the proposals would be part of a wider move to tackle other problems such as obesity and prevent unhealthy products being targeted at children. Cameron said:

"The truth is that many big businesses are making huge profits on the back of poor health choices," and that

"Bureaucratic methods are increasingly ineffective today because the public health problems of today are increasingly the consequence of perfectly legal personal decisions, made in private spaces".

First alcohol-free nightclub to be launched for under 18s

Norwich city will soon provide under-18s with a 460 capacity alcohol-free nightclub in an attempt to provide young people with safe and supervised diversionary activities. The 'Open' nightclub will be run by professional door staff and include voluntary support from youth workers including members of Connexions, the Matthew Project and Norfolk County Council Children’s Services, Network Norwich reports.

Venue Marketing and Events Manager, Rachael Murray, said:

“We are really excited to be launching Open’s new nightclub, and once again putting Norwich at the forefront of youth provision in the UK. There has been a clearly identified need to provide positive and fun activities for young people to take part in, particularly during weekend evenings, and we are extremely pleased to be launching a great quality venue dedicated to young people and geared towards providing them with enjoyable, safe and alcohol free club experiences.”

Listen to our 2006 podcast on the Open Youth Trust's SOS Bus, and the work that preceded this development.

Alcohol enforcement skills development seminars

The Home Office is holding a series of 40 two-day Alcohol Enforcement Skills Development seminars.  The seminars complement and build on last year's seminars on alcohol-related tools and powers, which were attended by 1,300 people.

This round of seminars are being held in the Home Office's priority areas and are focused more directly at operational police officers and those that are involved in the legal issues concerning the Licensing Act 2003 and other alcohol-related enforcement.

The first day is aimed at elected members, lawyers and legal experts; the second is aimed at operational police officers and will cover police powers in respect of licensed and un-licensed premises.

The seminars are free to attend.  Details here.

New bidding round for alcohol best practice projects: working with offenders

Since 2006 NOMS has provided about £250,000 funding to 15 projects to help to identify, develop and spread best practice relating to the aims and objectives of the alcohol strategy, Working with Alcohol Misusing Offenders.

Learning points from these projects have been disseminated to staff at national conferences and seminars and practical guidance e.g. manuals, training materials, made available on the probation intranet (EPIC) to facilitate wider implementation. Along with findings from independent research, best practice from the projects has also informed NOMS alcohol interventions guidance due to be launched at events to be held in London and Manchester on the 7th and 16th September.

Around £100,000 is available during 2009/10 to support entirely new project work and/or further developmental work in existing projects. See the invitation letter here. Information about the process for applying for funding and the criteria by which bids will be assessed is here, along with a bid proforma which should be completed and returned to Robert Stanbury at Robert.Stanbury@noms.gsi.gov.uk by Friday 4th September. If you have any queries please contact Robert Stanbury on 020 7217 0767.

Liver cancer cases treble in 30 years

Cases of primary liver cancer have tripled in the last 30 years according to  Cancer Research UK. In 1975, 865 cases of primary liver cancer were diagnosed in Great Britain but the latest figures for 2006 show that number has risen to 3108. Secondary or metastatic liver cancer - that has spread to the liver from a primary tumour elsewhere in the body - is a relatively common disease. But primary liver cancer- when cancer originates in the liver - has been rare in the UK until recently.

Experts attribute this rise to three things: the increase in alcohol consumption, obesity and hepatitis C. Each of these factors can lead to cirrhosis which in turn may develop into primary liver cancer. Matt Seymour, Cancer Research UK’s professor of gastrointestinal cancer medicine at the University of Leeds said:

"Three main risk factors for liver cirrhosis - alcohol, obesity and hepatitis C infection - are getting more common in the UK. So we are seeing more patients with cirrhosis and, in turn, more patients with primary liver cancer. "

This is likely to continue. There is a long delay between exposure to the risk factors and the onset of cancer. It might take between 20 and 40 years for liver cancer to develop after infection with hepatitis C. So even if new cases of infection stopped, the number of cases of cancer would continue to rise for some years. Hepatitis C is a virus spread by blood to blood contact. In the 1960s and 1980s the virus could have been contracted from the medical use of contaminated blood products but this no longer happens because measures have been put in place to ensure all blood products are completely safe. Today the virus is commonly spread among intravenous drug users.

Another virus, Hepatitis B, is responsible for a small percentage of primary liver cancer in the UK but is a more common cause of primary liver cancer worldwide. Cancer Research UK is supporting a number of research projects including clinical trials to improve the treatment of primary liver cancer.

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer information, said:

"While this increase is a concern, it is important for people to understand how their risk of liver cancer can be reduced by changes to lifestyle. “Cutting down on alcohol and watching your weight will help to reduce the risk of a wide range of cancers including primary liver cancer. Taking plenty of exercise and eating a balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in fatty foods, red and processed meat can all help towards keeping a healthy weight."

Alcohol Concern Chief Executive Don Shenker said:

"This new research is building on a body of evidence which highlights the link between alcohol and cancer and the need for action. It's well known that excessive alcohol consumption can lead to liver cirrhosis, but many people aren't aware that cirrhosis can develop into cancer. We're facing a public health crisis in terms of alcohol-related cancers and other health conditions because of cheap, easily available alcohol and a lack of health information to go with it. The UK needs to follow the evidence base for ending cut-price alcohol to drive our consumption down and reduce the rate of cancers and other diseases. The government can't hope to do that unless it's willing to get tough on the availability of low cost alcohol."

Report claims public place alcohol control powers are misused

A recent report claims that the police are misusing their powers through the excessive confiscation of alcohol in controlled public places. The report, Robbed by the Police: Alcohol confiscation and the hyper regulation of public space calls for 'gung-ho officers to be reigned in and for a review of the police's confiscation powers'. The Manifesto club highlight there are now 712 alcohol control zones (officially Designated Public Place Orders) put in place by local authorities. Within those designated public places, police can require a person to stop drinking or confiscate their alcohol. Failure to comply can result in an arrest or an on the spot fine. 

Home Office guidance states that 'it is not appropriate to challenge an individual consuming alcohol where that individual is not causing a problem', but the Manifesto Club claim that 'across the country, police officers and community support officers (CSOs) have been confiscating alcohol from members of the public who are doing absolutely nothing wrong.' Whilst under the legislation police are entitled to confiscate alcohol whether disorder is evident or not, the report quotes members of the public who feel they have had alcohol confiscated unjustly. Other issues the report raises include: a lack of support, consultation or debate around the orders; cases of police and councils mis-labelling the control orders as 'bans'; and sufficient existing police powers.

In my experience, having evaluated several alcohol control zones, the issues raised are valid to varying degrees, but not in such simple terms. The report does not acknowledge where alcohol control zones have helped reduce alcohol-related crime and disorder and the associated impacts. In Hammersmith and Fulham, street drinking in problematic hot-spots was reduced by up to 62% after the control zone was brought in, backed by public support of 88%. In Southwark, an overall reduction of 27% was recorded in observed street drinking levels and anti-social behaviour. In 21% of incidents, street drinkers were either warned or moved on without having alcohol confiscated.

However the legislation, under the 2001 Criminal Justice and Police Act, does not put in place requirements for authorities to control or monitor how the powers are used. In cases where there is no evidence or likelihood of a problem, and the area is not a known alcohol hot-spot, common sense says it is unreasonable to confiscate alcohol. But the powers are favourable to police because they do not require paperwork and are simpler than lengthy and often unproductive processes of arrest for low level offences. This presents the difficult issue of the balance between accountability and the need to avoid excessive processes of data recording and reporting which can bog down public services.

I support the Home Office guidance in saying that police should only use the powers where there is evidence of nuisance or a real risk of alcohol related disorder occurring. Authorities should therefore ensure that partnership approaches can be taken to address alcohol related disorder, particularly where street drinkers or other vulnerable groups may need support. Police should receive training to recognise alcohol problems and be able to refer to local services, and importantly so that they recognise that confiscation powers are an option, not a necessity.

For further examination of the issues in addressing street drinking problems, see Street drinking enforcement Vs support: finding the balance briefing paper from the AERC Alcohol Academy.