Alcohol Policy UK

Alcohol taxation and pricing review

The Government's review of alcohol taxation and pricing is offering an opportunity to submit proposals and/or evidence to inform the review. See the HM Treasury review of alcohol taxation and pricing page.

Police and licensing reform plans outlined by Home Office

The Home Office Structural Reform Plan [pdf] was released this week, outlining the Coalition's plans to reform policing, licensing, civil liberties, counter-terrorism and immigration laws. The plan details its alcohol and licensing plans as:

Overhaul alcohol licensing to give more power to police and local authorities to meet the concerns of local communities:

1. Consult and develop proposals to overhaul the Licensing Act 2003 to strengthen local authority and police powers to remove licenses from, or refuse to grant licenses to, any premises that are causing problems
2. Legislate through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill
3. Develop options for alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge drinking, working with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and HM Treasury
4. Develop options to ban below-cost sale of alcohol, working with other government departments
5. Introduce legislation if necessary

The reform plan includes timescales and indicates the below cost ban will be agreed by November 2010, with alcohol taxation reformed for April 2011 and the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill passed by November 2011.

Alcohol news and updates: July 2010

The 10% rise in cider duty has been reversed following the Coalition's emergency 2010 budget [pdf] last month. However the Government will continue to increase the rates by 2 per cent above inflation each year to 2014-15 and will still 'review alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge drinking' under its alcohol plans. Details of the new measures are due to be announced in the autumn.

White Paper outlines NHS commissioning reforms

Yesterday the new White Paper ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’ was released by the Coalition Government. See the here for the press release.

Responses from healthcare think tanks have been released from Civitas and the King's Fund. Media coverage from the Telegraph and Guardian.

Of course this has huge implications for all services commissioned or provided by the NHS including alcohol treatment. Watch this space for news and analysis of the potential impact on alcohol treatment servcies and commissioning.

New PhD studentships - alcohol

Three research council funded studentships in Cardiff and Bristol are being made available through the collaboration between two internationally known research groups: the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), which is a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence and the Violence and Society Research Group, recent winner of the 2010 Queen's Anniversary Prize.

Two studentships relating to alcohol misuse are offered, supervised by Simon Moore, one focussing on the social context of consumption (in particular normative perceptions of use) and the second concerns the role of health practitioners in challenging misuse.

Successful applicants would be expected to play an active role in ongoing projects and work across a range of disciplines. Closing date for applications is 30th July.  Details here.

Health Secretary outlines non-regulatory approach for food and alcohol industry

The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has outlined a Public Health approach of 'social responsibility, not state regulation' in respect of issues such as junk food and alcohol consumption. In a speech to a Faculty of Public Health conference, Lansley suggested the role of the Government in health campaigns would be reduced but that the industry would be 'pressed' to take a larger role:

"There has been a change of Government and there will now be a change of approach. We will be progressively scaling back the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on Change4Life and asking others, including the charities, the commercial sector and local authorities, to fill the gap."

Lansley spoke of a new "...'responsibility deal', 'built on social responsibility, not state regulation" which meant an approach of 'encouraging positive choices not lecturing or nannying.' But representatives from health bodies spoke out accroding to news reports (see below). Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum said he was "horror-struck" whilst a British Heart Foundation spokerperson said  "...parents and children [will] continue to be faced with the bewildering kaleidoscope of confusing food labels and pre-watershed junk food ads."

• 'Andrew Lansley: Occasional Mars bar is fine if overall diet is good' The Telegraph
• 'No anti-junk food laws, health secretary promises' The Guardian
• 'Food firms take over anti-obesity campaign' The Independent 

NICE consultation on 'Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use' guidance

 
NICE have released a consultation draft of its clinical practice guidelines on 'Alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol use'. All documents and details on how to submit feedback as a stakeholder can be found on the consultation page, or download:

• The NICE short version [pdf] (44 pages) - presents the provisional recommendations only with some brief supporting information.
  
• The full version (543 pages) - describes the evidence and views that have been considered, and sets out the provisional recommendations that have been developed.

Consultation closes on the 19th August 2010.

Last month NICE released its alcohol prevention guidance and further alcohol-related NICE guidance is available here.

NICE is also consulting on its draft Public Health guidance on PHSE in schools.

'Investing in alcohol treatment': Alcohol Concern calls for more support for dependent drinkers

An Alcohol Concern report 'Investing in alcohol treatment' has been released, highlighting the need for further support for dependent drinkers and the implied cost-savings. The document reports there has been a 24% increase in the number of dependent drinkers between 2000 and 2007, with the total now at 1.6 million dependent drinkers in England.

The report states that government could save £1.7 billion by providing double the current level of treatment support for dependent drinkers, based on a five-fold saving on public sector costs when treating alcoholism, as health, welfare and crime costs are reduced. Alcohol Concern also continue to highlight the disparity between investment in drug and alcohol treatment as outlined in the table below:

The report also makes alcohol treatment recommendations for commissioners and decision makers covering issues such as assessing demand, care pathways, vulnerable groups, measuring success and re-tendering. For resources on alcohol commissioning see the Alcohol Learning Centre.

Options to ban 'below-cost sales' under consideration

The Government is considering four options to ban below-cost selling of alcohol and is planning a forthcoming public consultation. According to a press release:

The coalition pledged in June to ban below-cost alcohol sales and has held talks with the industry to define what it means by "cost". The Grocer magazine said the Home Office told industry lobbyists it is working on four possible options, the first of which defines cost as simply duty and VAT. This is the definition used by leading supermarket chains, including Morrisons, which last month called on the Government to ban the sale of alcohol below this figure.

However, many in the industry objected to the definition on the grounds that it would only affect the deepest discounts and attributed no cost to the product itself, the trade magazine reported. Two other options were to add some form of cost for the production, distribution and marketing of the product, or to ban sales below the cost of the invoice sent to retailers. The fourth option was to allow retailers to work together on fair pricing without fear of prosecution under competition law. A minimum cost per unit had been ruled out, the Grocer said, although this is still expected to be accepted in Scotland.

The four options would be presented in a consultation document in early August as part of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill. Carlsberg UK chief executive Isaac Sheps told the magazine: "If you go only on duty and VAT, it's easier to control because this is a number nobody can mess with." But Mark Hunter, chief executive of brewing company Molson Coors, said the cost of production needs to be included if the law is to have any impact.

Over recent months there has been signifcant discussion over the options and  potential impact of banning below cost sales including 'fears that the off-trade would beat the ban'.

New 'self-help' website for alcohol and cocaine users

A new OASIS website for alcohol and cocaine users offers 'self-help' approaches to reducing harmful use. Visitors however need to choose between the substance they are most concerned about, though both tools can be used separately.

For alcohol, the site uses the AUDIT screening tool, an effective approach for identifying levels of alcohol risk for the delivery of brief interventions and treatment responses. The cocaine screening tool was developed for the project based on the AUDIT and includes questions about alcohol use.

Though the effectiveness of web-based self-help resources may still be lacking research, a recent study suggested it is likely to be a worthwhile approach. A number of 'self-help' type resources and information materials are made available by the NHS available at www.drinking.nhs.uk. Links include a self-complete AUDIT and free information pack to order. Other materials for stakeholders to promote can be ordered here.

The AERC Alcohol Academy recently highlighted the need for further recognition of combined alcohol and cocaine use. It called for further exploration into the role of specific brief intervention approaches in its briefing paper 'Cocaethylene: responding to combined alcohol and cocaine use'.