Alcohol Policy UK

Late night levy: amended guidance as local authorities and trade weigh up levy and EMRO options

The Home Office have released amended guidance on the late night levy [pdf]. The power to introduce the levy became law in October 2012, enabling licensing authorities to charge a levy as a means of raising a contribution towards police and council accrued costs of the late-night economy.

Early morning alcohol restriction orders (EMROs) are also now available to local authorities to restrict the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am - see EMRO factsheet.

The late night levy guidance sets out considerations for the local design and implementation of the levy, including consideration of any financial risk (for example lower than expected revenue) to premises. It also outlines options for the use of gathered funds and allocation of fees between the local authority and the police.

A number of local authorities have consulted on the late night levy and the use of EMRO, however the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) have set up a 'fighting fund' to cover the cost of legal challenges against EMROs or the levy. The Morning Advertiser recently reported that Newcaslte City Council will consult on the late night levy which could be used to fund taxi marshalling, street pastors, enforcement and safety initiatives and toilet provision.

All Home Office licensing guidance can be accessed here, including revised guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Latest Findings alcohol bulletins: Canadian experience supports minimum pricing evidence; Scotland exceeds brief intervention target

Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:

Real-world Canadian evidence supports minimum alcohol pricing
Mathematical models for Britain predict that high minimum per unit alcohol pricing would substantially reduce consumption, but are consumers and markets that predictable? From British Columbia in Canada, real-world support for this first step in the chain expected to lead to improved public health and productivity and reduced crime.

Minimum price for alcohol has reduced consumption
Further and arguably stronger Canadian evidence from Saskatchewan of the real-world impact of something close to minimum per unit alcohol pricing applied more consistently to more beverage types and at a higher level than in British Columbia.

Scotland exceeds national brief alcohol interventions target
In three years from 2008 Scottish national policy drove delivery of nearly 175,000 brief alcohol interventions, testament to what can be done when policy is backed by funding and infrastructure and incentive payments contingent on implementation. Leverage and acceptance were greatest in primary care, where the vast majority of the work took place.

The Alcohol Research UK Conference 2013: Alcohol and British Society

Alcohol Research UK's 2013 conference has been announced to take place on 12 March 2013, exploring alcohol and British society:

Understanding the role of alcohol in contemporary British society is key to targeting the harms it can cause.  This conference presents some of the latest developments in alcohol research.  It will address issues such as:

-Why alcohol harms are unevenly spread across different social groups
-How policy interventions impact on different communities
-Methods for the identification and prevention of harmful drinking
-The role of science in developing alcohol policy.

Speakers include Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Professor Keith Humphreys and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff.

The conference will be of interest to academics, journalists, policymakers, service providers, and anyone interested in understanding the key debates in alcohol research today.

Click here to download a full version of the programme. Book before 10th January 2013 for early bird delegate rate of £50 - Download a booking form here.

The event will take place at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, 183 Euston Road, London NW1

Jobs: Alcohol research positions - University of Sheffield & European Research Council

Alcohol and Public Health Policy Researcher: University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) are seeking to appoint a researcher to contribute to the development, execution and dissemination of ScHARR’s contributions to the alcohol theme.  

• Job Reference Number: UOS005780
• Contract Type: Fixed-term for 2 years.
• Faculty: Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
• Salary: Grade 7 £28,685-£36,298 per annum.
• Closing Date: 7 January 2013

See here for further information.

European Research Council PhD Studentships in Alcohol Epidemiology

Applications are invited for two fully-funded three-year PhD studentships for suitably qualified students to conduct research into the health consequences of alcohol consumption across the life-course using data from existing longitudinal observational cohort studies.

• Job Reference Number: 1297732
• UCL Department  Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
• Duration of Studentship 3 years
• Stipend £18,746 per annum plus UK/EU fees of £4,200 per year

See here for further information.

Alcohol Strategy consultation roadshows

Last month consultation on the Government alcohol strategy was opened for a 10 week period, seeking views on minimum pricing, licensing changes and a ban on multi-buy promotions.

As part of the process the Home Office will be holding events, road shows and technical groups, to raise awareness of the consultation, encourage responses and seek detailed technical feedback from selected licensing practitioners on the proposals. 

Applications to attend the road shows can be made here.

Home Office road show overview:

The road shows are more general events designed to raise awareness of the wider consultation and will feature interactive table discussions across the five themes of the consultation. They are open to members of the public, licensed trade, health, business sectors, police and local authority enforcement representatives.

The road shows will provide an overview of the Government's direction of travel against the alcohol strategy to date and then move into interactive table discussions examining each of the five areas of the consultation.

Road Show schedule:

• Central London: 8th and 9th January
• Cardiff: 15th January
• Leeds: 17th January
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 22nd January
• Nottingham: 24th January

Further details here. To register your interest in attending one of the road show events, please click here by 12:00 on 18th December. The Home Office have asked applicants to consider that they expect the roadshows to be oversubscribed.

Changes to alcohol treatment recording; Alcohol PbR update

Planned alcohol Outcomes for NDTMS dataset April 2013

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) have announced  alcohol treatment data outcomes will be included as part of the core NDTMS dataset for drug and alcohol treatment services. See here for the NTA's summary report [pdf].

As part of a consultation earlier this year, alcohol consumption was agreed as the key indicator of successful treatment outcomes. Therefore from April 2013, services will be required to be monitor alcohol consumption through NDTMS at start (assessment) and finish (discharge) of treatment via the two following measures:

• How many days in the last 28 have you had an alcoholic drink?
• On an average drinking day in the last 28, how many units of alcohol were consumed?

In addition, a secondary outcome measure will assess physical and psychological health as part of the core dataset as currently included in the drug Treatment Outcome Profile (TOP) form. Poor physical and mental health is strongly associated with alcohol misuse so, tool, from April 2013 NDTMS will also assess at start and finish:

• Client’s rating of physical health status (extent of physical symptoms and bothered by illness) – scored 0-20 (poor to good)
• Client’s rating of psychological health status (anxiety, depression and problem emotions and feelings) – scored 0-20 (poor to good)

The most recent alcohol treatment statistics are available in the Statistics from the National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System (NATMS) 1st April 2010 - 31st March 2011. See here for NICE alcohol guidance on treatment and commissioning.

The NTA will cease to exist as of April 2013 as its functions will come under Public Health England.

Alcohol Payment by Results (PbR) update

A progress statement on the alcohol PbR pilots identifies the current status of the project:

'Packages of care', based on NICE guidance have been developed to support each cluster and treatment outcome measures are being explored. Four pilot areas have been testing out these products and how they can report costs for treatment based on the currencies / clusters.

When they are fit for purpose, we will make them available for future use by local authorities and alcohol treatment providers'

See here for a Alcohol PbR overview presentation.

Alcohol guides for social workers released

Four new alcohol and substance misuse guides have been released to support social workers who specialise in adults and childrens services but who do not specialise in substance use - see the Alcohol and other drugs Guides flyer (pdf). 

There are four pocket guides covering:

1. Alcohol and Older People (pdf)
2. Children, Families and Alcohol Use (pdf)
3. Mental Health and Substance Use (pdf)
4. Younger People and Alcohol (pdf)

The guides follow the the pocket guide Alcohol and Other Drugs - Essential Information for Social Workers released in 2010.

The guides can also be accessed here via the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) site and hard copies can also be requested for a small postage and packing fee from [email protected].

The guides were funded by Comic Relief in partnership with the BASW and The Tilda Goldberg Centre, University of Bedfordshire.

Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS): 2nd Annual report

The Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) 2nd annual report has been released.

The MESAS provides an update of Scotland’s alcohol strategy, the evaluation plan and the analyses of price, consumption, affordability and alcohol-related harms. Additionally, this report presents findings from the Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABIs) evaluation - ABIs are commonly known as Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) in England.

The report identifies alcohol sales in Scotland decreased by 5% between 2009 and 2011. However consumption in Scotland remains a fifth higher than in England & Wales, largely attributable to higher sales of lower priced spirits (particularly vodka) through the off-trade. Affordability of alcohol has increased by 45% since 1980, largely due to rising disposable incomes.

Mortality rates in Scotland are over two and a half times higher than they were in the early 1980s and remain nearly twice as high as those in England & Wales. However in recent years indicators of alcohol-related morbidity and mortality have begun to show falls, but these need to be interpreted with caution given variations within population groups.

On Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABIs), the report states:

Although NHS annual performance targets for ABI delivery were met consistently, the overall reach of the programme to hazardous and harmful drinkers is likely to be limited. Due to a lack of outcome monitoring data, the impacts of the ABI programme were unable to be assessed, resulting in a need for modelling to measure the impact of ABIs on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm. Findings from exploratory modelling analysis suggest that potential benefits could exist, particularly in relation to recent reductions in alcohol-related harm. These potential benefits from ABIs are modest, however, when compared to the total burden of alcohol-related harm in Scotland.

In the executive summary conclusion the report states:

Until further work is completed on the wide range of possible explanations, it is not appropriate to draw conclusions as to what factors, or combination of factors, are responsible for the recent improvements identified in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms in Scotland.

See here for a recent Scotland update on test purchasing as key to Licensing Act and alcohol sales data.