Alcohol Policy UK

Alcohol Research UK - 30 year impact report & recent studies: CBT, medications & adolescence

Alcohol Research UK impact evaluation

Alcohol Research UK has published a report which looks at the projects it has supported since 1982, mostly as the Alcohol Education and Research Council, to review its impact. Based on an independent research project, it gives an overview of the of nearly 900 projects, fellowships and studentships it has funded. The charity continues to release regular grant programmes with the 2016/17 opportunities to be announced in May.

Alcohol Concern Wales say weekly guidelines can be bought for almost £2

Alcohol Concern Cymru have released a new report highlighting the widespread availability of cheap alcohol in Wales and reiterated calls for minimum unit pricing (MUP).

The report highlights findings from a snapshot survey of supermarkets and off-licences in six towns and cities across Wales, which found alcohol on sale for 15.5p per unit in one area. Alcohol Concern say that the recommended weekly guidelines of 14 units per week could therefore be purchased for little more than £2 in Rhyl, where a 3 litre bottle of Frosty Jack’s cider (22.5 units) was on sale for £3.50.

Partnership and personal responsibility: alcohol policy now within crime strategy

The existence of a national alcohol strategy for England is arguably no more; a new crime prevention strategy has set out alcohol-related crime objectives, but signals the end of a central policy also covering health and other areas previously unified in a single document.

In 2004 the first national strategy for England set out a framework spanning prevention, treatment, crime, and other key areas. Largely viewed as only any good for getting the ball rolling, it was subsequently met with the expansive 'Safe. Sociable. Sensible' strategy and local toolkit in 2007.

Findings bulletins: multi-session brief interventions, individualising treatment, workplace education & more

Recent bulletins from the drug and alcohol bank:

Risky-drinking inpatients respond best to multi-session brief interventions

Review of studies of interventions for heavy drinkers identified among general hospital inpatients concluded that multi-session brief interventions could reduce drinking. “Could” is an important qualifier: yet to be pinned down is why though sometimes they work, brief interventions often fail to produce significant effects.

Liverpool project reduces sales to 'drunks'

A new evaluation report shows that the illegal sale of alcohol to intoxicated customers in Liverpool was reduced by an intervention designed to improve awareness and enforcement of server law.

Download 'Evaluation of the Liverpool Drink Less Enjoy More intervention' [pdf]

The project evolved from an earlier 'Say No To Drunks' initiative developed by local agencies, which aimed to address the sale of alcohol to intoxicated customers in the city’s nightlife through a 'multi-component approach'. It aimed to increase awareness of legislation; support bar staff compliance with the law; provide a strong deterrence to selling alcohol to drunks; and promote responsible drinking amongst nightlife users.

Budget 2016 ignores alcohol health calls

Osborne: sugar tax headlines

The Chancellor George Osborne has again frustrated alcohol public health groups with the 2016 budget. Beer, cider, and spirits duties were frozen, with wine duty to rise in line with inflation.

The Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) and other groups had been campaigning for the Chancellor to raise alcohol duty ahead of the budget. A recent IAS report ‘Dereliction of Duty: Are UK alcohol taxes too low? claimed that the Government’s own estimates of the societal costs of alcohol imply that alcohol duty should be raised, even without considering the impact on the drinker themselves, or the benefit to the public purse.

Fresh calls to revisit £21 billion cost figure

A new journal article has prompted fresh calls for a comprehensive analysis into the costs of alcohol to society. The study suggests the widely cited £21 billion figure relies on data that is 'between 4 and 12 years out of date' and is susceptible to a number of different assumptions. See Politics UK article. 

New Local Alcohol Profiles for England published

This piece orginally posted on the Alcohol Research UK website and has been reproduced with their permission.

Public Health England recently released their updated Local Alcohol Profiles for England. Based on hospital admissions and mortality data, they provide the best available indicator of how alcohol-related health harms are distributed across English regions.

At a national level, the new figures show a 3% fall in alcohol-specific deaths in the period 2012-4 compared to the previous three years. They also show a 7% fall in chronic liver disease since 2006, although there has been little change in the last three years. However, the data also shows a 1% rise in alcohol-related deaths over the same period.

Drinking in the last week - a useful measure? OPN Drinking Habits Amongst Adults 2014

New data on adult drinking habits has been released as part of the latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), the first national release on drinking habits since the change in recommended adult drinking guidelines.

OPN shows that in 2014, 28.9 million people report that they had drunk alcohol in the week before interview - 58% of the population and the same level as reported for 2012.

Scotland's MESAS evaluation shows impact despite no minimum pricing

The final Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) report has been released, exploring the likely extent to which the strategy has impacted on alcohol harm in Scotland. See supporting infographics here.

The report acknowledges the complex range of factors that influence alcohol consumption and harms, but suggests the Scottish Government’s alcohol strategy has had a positive impact over the past 5 years. However external factors, especially socio-economic influences, have also contributed to the declining harms, and that improvements may have stalled in recent years.