Alcohol Policy UK

Home Office offers support through Local Alcohol Action Area (LAAA) project

The Home Office has written to Local Authority Chief Executives inviting them to apply to take part in a Local Alcohol Action Area (LAAA) project. The LAAA project aims to offer 15-20 areas with high alcohol-related harms help with local initiatives over a 15 month period.

The Home Office and Public Health England say they will provide advice and support to areas in formulating their action plans and reviewing progress, but will not be prescriptive. For instance it will be up to Local Authorities to decide their own priorities for local action or how large an area to focus on. However no additional funding is offered as part of the support.

Projects must be in line with three key aims: tackling alcohol-related crime and disorder; reducing alcohol-related health harms; and promoting growth by establishing diverse and vibrant night-time economies. The letter says the Home Office will make connections with mentor areas and bring together areas to share learning and solve joint problems. They are also "challenging the alcohol industry to support LAAAs, prioritising the roll-out of best practice schemes and galvanizing the support of businesses".

Local Authorities wishing to opt-in to the LAAA project need to complete an EOI template by 15 November 2013. See the letter to Chief Executives here. In selecting the LAAAs the main criteria will be that the areas "must have higher levels of alcohol-related crime and disorder, alcohol-related health harms or have a night-time economy that offers little beyond drinking alcohol."

Recently PHE released an alcohol stocktake tool to help local areas assess their local strategic approach to addressing alcohol harms. An evaluation of the Department of Health's 2008-2011 'Alcohol Improvement Programme' (AIP) was also recently released. The AIP included the alcohol National Support Team (ANST) which included diagnostic and support visits for local areas.

Drinkaware warn over children seeing parents drunk

46% of children aged 10 to 14 have seen at least one of their parents intoxicated and 29% had seen it more than once, according to Drinkaware. The industry funded charity is launching a national campaign to raise awareness of the issues around children and alcohol, encouraging parents to talk to their children and to be aware of their influence.

Drinkaware commissioned an ICM survey of 1,000 parents and their children aged 10-14 and says parents may often be giving mixed messages. They state what children see and are told are both influential in shaping their understanding of ‘normal’ or acceptable drinking behaviour - and the odds of a teenager getting drunk double if they have seen their parents drunk.

Alcohol Concern however have been campaigning for tougher regulation on alcohol advertising and report that children and young people in the UK aged 10-15 years are exposed to significantly more alcohol adverts than before. A report by Alcohol Concern Cymru says children are often able to access alcohol via home delivery services.

Last year the think-tank Demos produced a follow up report further emphasising the influence of parenting style on children’s drinking as teenagers and later in life. Mentor UK urges parents to think about alcohol, access, attitudes. A 2012 4Children report warned many middle-class parents are drinking excessively as a way of coping with the demands of family life. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Young People, Alcohol and Influences took a broader look at influences on young people's drinking.

Further reports and guidance related to children and young people can be found here on the Alcohol Learning Centre, including the CMO guidance which says an alcohol free childhood is best. Last year two reports called for the protection of children from alcohol harm. See all Alcohol Policy UK young people tagged reports.

HMRC 2013 data on alcohol duty fraud & consultation on tackling fraud proposals

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published revised data on the estimated value of alcohol duty fraud for 2011-12. Lost revenue is estimated at £1.2 billion per annum of total annual tax revenue of over £9 billion, including avoided excise duty and illicit alcohol.

The estimates show the spirits illicit market share was 3%, with associated revenue losses of £120 million. The beer illicit market share is 9%, with associated revenue losses of £550 million. The wine illicit market share is 6%, with associated revenue losses of £350 million. The most prevalent form of alcohol fraud involves the smuggling or diversion of alcoholic drinks into the UK in large commercial quantities, duty unpaid.

Last year HMRC came under fire for failing to tackle alcohol tax fraud in a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee. The Government then consulted on potential legislative measures to help prevent and tackle alcohol fraud and proposed that HMRC will:

• implement a programme of changes to strengthen existing legislation, policy and enforcement to tackle alcohol fraud
• consult further on how a scheme to register alcohol wholesalers might operate, to better understand the potential costs and benefits of such a scheme
• consult on new proposals to strengthen due diligence obligations for registered excise businesses.

An informal consultation document Alcohol Fraud: Next Steps, invites views on the proposals but closes on 28 October 2013.

HMRC encourage reporting on any kind of fraud, smuggling or tax evasion at www.hmrc.gov.uk/reportingfraud.

Events & dates: Alcohol Research UK support for researchers; addressing parental substance misuse; Alcohol Awareness week approaches & more

Alcohol Research UK have announced a half-day symposium to encourage new researchers in the alcohol field. The free event will be held on Monday afternoon 17th March in London and will feature a keynote talk from Professor Robin Room. Abstracts are invited from postgraduate, PhD or post-doctoral researchers, with each paper will be allocated 15 minutes and a prize for the best paper.

The 4th November deadline is also approaching for applications for the jointly-funded research studentships. £7,000 per year match funding is available for three years to enable a student to undertake research in the alcohol field leading to a PhD. Please see here for further details.

A few places remain for a free event 'Identifying and supporting pupils affected by parental substance misuse', taking place 7 November in Durham - details and last spaces here. The event is organised by The Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service and aims to explore how schools can identify and support vulnerable children affected by parental substance misuse. 

On 19th November Alcohol Concern's annual conference on the theme of 'conversations about alcohol' takes place - details and booking here.

Alcohol Awareness Week (AAW) 2013 is set to take place from 18-24 November, with Alcohol Concern encouraging local areas to promote conversations and awarenss of alcohol and its impact

A Westminster Briefing event aims to explore the Government alcohol strategy and implications on the 28th November.

'Alcohol and drugs JSNA support pack' released by PHE

An updated guidance document to support strategic and commissioning approaches to drug and alcohol treatment was released by Public Health England last month.

It aims to support the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) process and local joint health and wellbeing strategies. These underpin local delivery for drug and alcohol treatment and prevention, now the responsibility of local authorities.

The support pack focuses on drug drug prevention, treatment and recovery, but also includes the 'alcohol stocktake self assessment tool' released earlier this year. It also details commissioning principles for adult alcohol and drugs prevention, treatment and recovery. It also outlines the ambition for integrated commissioning which should deliver improved outcomes monitored via the Public Health Outcomes Framework.

Alcohol Concern recently released a Guide to Alcohol for Councillors, which aims to help councillors meet the new commissioning challenges and harms realting to alcohol. Comprehensive NICE alcohol guidance is also available, including detailed benchmarking tools. NICE also recently released Public Health Guidance for local authorities.

A host of other alcohol-related guidance has also been released in recent years, and the Alcohol Learning Centre also includes pages highlighting data tools and commissioning.

Public Health Licensing event presentations available

DrinkWise recently organised a Public Health Licensing workshop to explore and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Public Health playing a meaningful role in licensing.

Presentations on the day included:

• 'Expect delays and cancellations' Ian Leete, Local Government Association

• 'Evidence -The Reality' James Button, James Button Solicitors

• 'Outlet density and cumulative impact' James Nicholls, Alcohol Research UK

• 'Licensing Policy' Sharon Davies, Blackpool Council

• Public Health in Licensing approaches in London – Safe Sociable London Partnership

DrinkWise are also encouraging discussion and best practice sharing on the Drink Wise discussion forum. In London the Safer Sociable London Partnership have also been running Licensing masterclasses to help support London boroughs - large pdf slide set here.

In England new licensing powers have been in effect since last year as part of the the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSA) 2011. The changes included councils becoming 'responsible authorities'. However only a few local authorities have so far implemented measures such as the Late Night Levy, though in Scotland an evaluation of Scotland's Licensing 2005 Act has reported positive impacts.

A number of toolkits and guidance documents have since been released to try and support local action in England, including developing effective public health responses. However with public health absent from England's licensing act core objectives, progress may rely on good data sharing to improve responses to existing objectives.

New FEAD videos: 'Under Control? Alcohol and Drug Regulation, Past and Present'

New FEAD videos are available from the recent "Under Control? Alcohol and Drug Regulation, Past and Present" conference, which took place in London on 21-23rd June 2013.  

'Under Control?' included presentations from a wide range of internationally renowned speakers exploring various aspects of alcohol and drug control. 

Presentations specific to alcohol included:

• James Kneale: Moderate drinking before the unit: Medicine and life assurance in Britain and the US c. 1860-1930

• Thora Hands: Treating the mad, the bad and the drunk: Medical institutional responses to the problems of inebriety in Scotland c.1897-1914

• Stella Moss: 'Red biddy ruin': Methylated spirit consumption and the control of deviant drinking in interwar Britain

• Phil Mellows: The dialectic of drink: Alcohol and the neoliberal state

• Lauren Saxton: Motherhood, drink and nation: the female alcoholic in national context

• Lesley Smith: alcohol marketing and drinking behaviours John Greenaway: A Perennially awkward issue: The Labour Party and alcohol

• James Nicholls: What is the problem: Ideology, contingency, and evidence in recent UK alcohol policy

• Richard Robinson: High Spirits: The impact of tourists on alcohol's history in Brighton and Hanko

• John Foster: Drinking away from licensed premises (mostly at home): The link between risk and time

• Alan Latham: The common sense spatialities of liquor licensing: Regulating alcohol in New Zealand and the 1989 Sale of Liquor Act

• Adrian Barton: 'I don't really like the pub': Reflections on young people and pre-loading alcohol

• Steve Earnshaw: Drink dissolution: antibiography

FEAD videos were also recently released from the 2013 New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group, covering expert presentations on the theme of 'alcohol and the family.

Evaluation of the Alcohol Improvement Programme: too soon to tell?

An evaluation of a national led programme to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions and improve local level action has been published.

It finds although the Alcohol Improvement Programme (AIP) was not found to have impacted on national level hospital admissions, it did help improve the prioritisation and delivery of local action.

The 3 year £22 million AIP was funded by the Department of Health and ran from 2008-2011. It provided support to the NHS and third sector in delivering alcohol harm reduction, particularly around identified 'High Impact Changes' such as IBA and hospital liaison. Investment was delivered primarily through Early Implementer areas, Regional Alcohol Offices, NWPHO alcohol figures, the Alcohol Learning Centre (ALC) and the alcohol National Support Team (ANST).

The primary aim of the AIP was to contribute to a reduction in the rate of increase of alcohol-related hospital admissions (ARHAs), which it was not shown to have achieved. However the evaluation identified a number of issues with measuring this aim, including the wider and longer term context of rising admissions, despite falls in consumption since 2004. Other possible problems with this measure were the potential for increased coding or referral of alcohol-related problems, although it noted this should be regarded as a positive outcome.

Asides, the AIP and its aims were regarded positively, particularly as a 'change agent' for instigating local level action. Areas that received 'Early Implementer' support were regarded to have significantly strengthened strategic development of local actions. Indeed the ongoing prioritisation by many local areas in the new policy context may be regarded as part of the AIP's legacy. The Alcohol Learning Centre remains a useful 'one stop shop', and efforts around IBA and alcohol hospital liaison have continued or even increased.

The evaluation recommends that many such aspects of the AIP should be retained and built into the new policy context. In particular, actions to support and foster 'virtuous' partnership approaches and strategic leadership are crucial. This may be undermined by a decrease in specific strategic level alcohol roles and the absence of alcohol-specific funds. Retaining targets such as those to reduce hospital admissions is also advised as, if nothing else, they provide an incentives and focus for action. However under the current localism agenda, this recommendation may fare less well.

The report also calls for the need to maintain a strong policy focus on alcohol and attention to service development. These areas are now being led by action from Public Health England (PHE), who having incorporated the former NTA, are keen to ensure continued prioritisation and support around alcohol. Recently PHE released an alcohol stocktake tool which clearly reflects key approaches set out in the AIP.

The report highlights the AIP was always a time limited programme, so it's ambition to maintain a legacy of an improving evidence base, infrastructure and capacity for alcohol harm reduction should be recognised. Continuing falls in consumption are certainly likely to reflect economic difficulties, but the alcohol harm reduction agenda can surely also take some credit. Nonetheless, such evaluations cannot truly answer to what extent alcohol harm reduction efforts have - or will - impact on drinking, its impacts and trends.

Consultation to end personal licenses - a cause for concern?

The Home Office last month released a consultation on ending the requirement for a personal license to sell alcohol. Currently alcohol sales must be authorised by a personal licence holder who holds an accreditation and has undergone a criminal records check.

The Home Office say that the system is not targeted as "all premises, from the riskiest to the quietest, must comply with it", and abolishing it could save some businesses significant costs in training, application fees and criminal records checks as a result. As an alternative, the consultation document suggests that:

"[Licensing] conditions added to premises licences could provide a better and more targeted way of applying these [personal licence] safeguards. Licensing authorities and the police would have a more flexible tool at their disposal over which they had local control."

However Alcohol Research UK is concerned that the proposal removes key safeguards without first establishing an evidence base. They say they are not aware of any research which demonstrates that abolishing statutory training will improve responsible retailing practice, nor that removing the universal requirement for criminal record checks will improve security or safety in the industry. Alcohol Research UK therefore have urged the Government to provide more evidence on these aspects before proceeding.

The consultation closes on 7th November 2013.

The Government is also currently consulting on changes that could result in national alcohol survey data to be axed.

'Guide to Alcohol for Councillors' published by Alcohol Concern

Alcohol Concern have released a Guide to Alcohol for Councillors, which aims to help councillors meet the new commissioning challenges and tackle alcohol abuse in their communities. 

As of April 2013, local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of alcohol prevention and treatment services as part of their new public health responsibilities. The guide sets out the context of alcohol harm, local government's role, an action list and other insights such as good practice case studies.

It highlights tackling alcohol misuse will positively affect every key local authority department. Local authorities will also be additionally incentivised and measured against the health indicators set out in the Public Health Outcomes Framework for England 2013 – 2016, and estimates that alcohol plays a role in almost a third of them.

Eric Appleby, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern said:

“With local authorities taking responsibility for public health there is a huge opportunity to begin tackling alcohol harms at a local level and to save lives and cut crime.

“We know that the cost of alcohol misuse is enormous and that it takes its toll on so many aspects of our communities, whether it’s policing, providing hospital treatment or supporting children living with parents with an alcohol problem.

“We produced this guide to illustrate to councillors the extent of the damage done by alcohol misuse and to support them to develop a robust and effective alcohol strategy which benefits their entire community.”

NICE has a comprehensive set of alcohol guidance and quality standards, including alcohol pathways and further tools. NICE also recently released Public Health Guidance for local authorities. Also recently available is commissioning guidance for alcohol and mental health.

DrugScope have released a briefing on 'Public Health Reforms: What they mean for drug and alcohol services'. A recent RCGP briefing explores Primary Care Drug and Alcohol Commissioning. See the Alcohol Learning Centre commissioning pages for more.