Alcohol Policy UK

PHE 'Prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest?'

Public Health England (PHE) have released Alcohol and drug prevention, treatment and recovery: why invest? for commissioners and providers 'to help make the case for investing in drug and alcohol treatment and interventions'.

The resource collects alcohol-related figures and infographics designed to help make the business case for investing in treatment and early intervention - see the slide set here (includes some commentary and references in PowerPoint version -click 'save' in top right of screen).

News & updates November 2017: minimum pricing green light, research in the news, alcohol free wines & more

Selected media stories since the October round-up:

Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland

Big alcohol policy news in November came with the Supreme Court's judgement to allow minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland. As the Guardian put it: The UK supreme court has backed the Scottish government’s plans to introduce a minimum price . After a five-year legal battle against the plans led by the Scotch Whisky Association, the court ruled that minimum pricing was legal on health grounds under EU law. The seven judges unanimously agreed it was “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. See our coverage here and an Alcohol Concern explainer here.

Tackling Street Drinking PCC guidance: what's new?

New guidance 'Tackling Street Drinking' [pdf] has been released by a consortium of Police Crime Commissioners (PCCs), which aims to 'reduce the incidents of, and burden from, street drinking and to improve the interventions provided to street drinkers themselves.'

The guidance states that street drinking is a 'widespread and persistent problem', and should be tackled on the basis of negative effects on those who witness it including children, the effect on local businesses, and costs incurred to the public sector.

As such the report identified 'nine areas of action that PCCs can pursue to make a difference':

Review into drug and alcohol addiction on employment: DWP call for evidence

A review into the effects of drug and alcohol dependency on employment outcomes has been released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The review includes a 'call for evidence' into treatments or programmes that work, and experiences of service providers and users. The Government believes that not enough is being done to ensure people get medical help for what it describes as 'long-term, treatable issues', also including obesity.

More off-licenses removing 6.5% ABV supers as 'reducing the strength' initiatives grow

[Update] The LGA have since published guidance for local authorities setting up 'Reducing the strength' schemes.

A growing number of off-licenses are reportedly agreeing to adopt 'reducing the strength' style initiatives, whereby shops agree not to sell beer or cider of 6.5% ABV or above. Some areas have reported significant voluntary buy in and positive impacts on street drinking issues, but sections of the trade have raised concerns.

The schemes have risen in popularity since Ipswhich's 'Reducing the Strength' scheme launched in September 2012. Two thirds of Ispwich's 147 off-licensed stores signed up to the initiative which was claimed had significant reductions on street drinking. According to Suffolk Police, analysis of an area in Ipswich that had suffered street drinking issues saw a 73% reduction in reports of street drinking made to police and a 31% reduction in crime.

Ipswich also hosted a national conference earlier this year was attended by over 200 delegates, including many other local areas considering setting up similar schemes, or already in the process. However although the Chief Executive of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) expressed support for the scheme, James Lowman also raised concerns in this blog. Lowman points to questions over possible competition law issues and suggested some areas were "pushing voluntary bans" on retailers "without evidence, objectives or supporting local action".

Nonetheless, 'Reducing the Strength' schemes appear to chime well with the Coalition's favoured approaches of voluntary agreements and local partnerships. Its reported that up to 90 schemes are currently in place or being considered, so 'reducing the strength' may be coming to a high street near you.. Here's a few we've seen mentioned...

Portsmouth have reportedly had success with their reducing the strength scheme and are undertaking further evaluation of its impact. The City Council and partners state they have been working with the Association of Convenience Stores to provide a framework that will give confidence to the local retail trade.

Plymouth are currently inviting local stores to sign up and have produced a sign up form [doc] and are offering to pay the fee for a minor variation of licenses.

Croydon Council, part of the Home Office’s local alcohol action areas project, is teaming up with police and other local partners to encourage off-licences in Croydon town centre to help fight binge drinking by removing cheap high-strength beer and cider from their shelves.

In Woolwich, shopkeepers are supporting a campaign in which one shop owner said "when we stopped selling high-strength lager there was an immediate change, and the staff say they now feel a lot safer".

In 2011 a report on 'white ciders' called for action to stop 'irresponsible profiteering' from damaging high-alcohol low-cost drinks. In 2009 White Lightening was de-listed by Heineken to 'reinforce its stance on responsible drinking', but there's been no shortage of drinks filling the gaps, including supermarket own brand products. Of course supporters of minimum pricing would point out these would be amongst the most significantly affected drinks if it were introduced.

Polish street drinkers: service engagement research and feasibility study

A feasibility study exploring alcohol service engagement among Polish street drinkers has been released by Alcohol Research UK.

The research aimed to identify pathways to street drinking, to explore awareness of, attitudes towards and barriers to accessing services. The research was undertaken by the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at Middlesex University.

The key findings are:

• The street drinkers encountered difficulties with statutory and charitable organisations, particularly with respect to lack of language support.

• A lack of recourse to public funds plays a critical role, not only in triggering their homeless state, but in preventing them from accessing support.

• Given their state of homelessness, this small study of Polish street drinkers found evidence of resourcefulness and mutual support in managing their lives and coping with life on the street.

• The reserach techniques deployed during the research played an important role in securing the participation of members of this intrinsically hard-to-engage group.

• The techniques established a positive, candid interview dynamic, and enabled participants to meaningfully share ownership of the research process.

Homeless Link produce resources on on Central and Eastern European homelessness issues and conducted a 2009 report. Other organisations such as Barka UK have been set up to work with migrants facing homelessness.

See here for a breifing on 'street drinking: enforcement Vs support'. See here for previous street drinking tagged Alcohol Policy UK posts.

Housing and drinking in the home: 3rd London practitioners forum

The Third London Alcohol Practitioners’ Forum was held on Thursday 20th May at City Hall with the theme of alcohol related housing problems and drinking in the home. The Alcohol Practitioners' Forum is an information sharing and networking group that provides a pool of knowledge, skills and expertise to support the Joint Action Group (JAG) on Alcohol - established to deliver the Regional Statement of Priorities on Alcohol. Presentations from the day:

Session 1: Homelessness/Access to housing

• Alcohol floating support/homeless prevention, Brian Watts, Equinox
• Community Alcohol Detox with homeless people, Dr Merlin Wilcox

Session 2: Support within housing/Drinking in the home

• Working with Older Drinkers- Greg Scott, Foundation66 Community Alcohol Support Service
  
• Domestic violence and Alcohol Use – Embrace Project, Don Shenker, Alcohol Concern

Session 3: Unacknowledged Drinking in the Home

• Harmful drinking in the home- James Morris, Alcohol Academy
  
• Royal Geographic Society Alcohol Research, Dr Steven Toole
  
• Specialist floating support for BME groups-Foziha Raja, EACH

Session 4: The London Drink Debate

• Introduction the LDD and its aims and feedback from the LDD initial report, Matthew Andrews, RPHG

Further presentations on alcohol and housing issues can be found here.

Presentations from the previous forum on the Night Time Economy and Community Engagement can be found here.

What awaits the white cider market as White lightning de-listed and tax rises loom?

Heineken plans to de-list its infamous 'White lightning' cider brand, reportedly to 'reinforce its stance on responsible drinking and drive more value into the cider market'. The news is likely to be welcomed by groups and organisations who have spoken out against the damage of high-strength white ciders, as we previously discussed here.

Over recent years homeless charity Thames Reach have campaigned  against high-strength beers and ciders, prompting a recent call to the Chancellor from Labour MP Martin Linton to increase the tax on such drinks. According to the Morning Advertiser, Linton told MPs that these “extraordinarily powerful and destructive drinks” are the “most dangerous addictive drug”, based on information from Thames Reach. He also stated:

“It is a fact that the great majority of sales of super-strength lager and cider are to alcohol-dependent people who are often vulnerable and homeless,” said Linton, during a private members debate in Parliament. “For them, the defining attraction is not the taste, but the price per unit of alcohol. Super-strength affects not only health, but behaviour.” He also pointed out that that a 500ml can of super-strength lager contained 4.5 units - more than the daily recommended guidelines for men.

However there have been objections to further tax rises on ciders, which currently have a lower tax rate. This seems to raise an issue of lack of tax differential between more 'traditional cider' (i.e made with apples), and the high-strength 'white ciders' (reported as having nothing to do with apples - Wikipedia reports it as made from 'fermented corn syrup'). According to Cider UK blog, 'the duty on a mass produced white cider at 7.5% is currently only around a quarter of that on beer of a weaker strength'. They ask 'What are the implications for high quality, 100% juice, craft ciders? At present these have the same alcohol duty advantage as the mass produced industrial imposters'. See here for a summary of alcohol duty rates.

Nonetheless duty on alcohol will still rise (or not fall when VAT goes up, as explained here) and the Conservatives have pledged targeted tax hikes at high-strength beers and ciders. However organisations such as Alcohol Concern, whilst welcoming increased taxes on such high-strength drinks, have urged that this will not stop supermarkets continuing to sell alcohol below cost price as a 'loss leader', instead advocating a minimum price approach.

There is some further interesting history to White Lightning; in 2004 producers stopped selling the special value 3 litre bottles which caused a dramatic 70% drop in sales, followed by rises in sales of the remaining own brand versions. See the 'Cheap Strong Ciders' section on the Wikipedia Cider page for more.

Services that manage the care needs of drunk and incapable people: a review of the literature

The Scottish Government have released a review of the literture on 'Services that Manage the Care Needs of Drunk and Incapable People'. From the summary page:

'The main focus of this report is on "sobering-up services" - services which provide an overnight place of safety for people who are identified as intoxicated (either with alcohol or drugs) in a public place, and who are incapable of looking after themselves because of their intoxication.

The aims of this review were:

• To identify services that exist in other countries (outside of Scotland) to manage the needs of drunk and incapable people and;
• To identify good practice in providing these services.'

The review may be relevant to those commissioning or providing services that respond to street drinkers, homeless or older people with alcohol problems.

Whose cider you on?

We have highlighted concerns about white cider before in connection with its impact on homeless people.  At our seminar, Housing Continuing Drinkers on Friday, the issue came up again when St Mungo's services users talked about trying to prevent the off-license next to their hostel from sellling the stuff, saying "it kills people" and is highly addictive. 

Who, apart from alcohol dependent drinkers, buys white cider?  Impoverished students perhaps.  Should it be banned, or is there a legitimate place in the market for it?  Is white cider worse than (stronger) super-strength lagers; if so why?

An article in Health Service Journal on health and homlessness earlier this month quoted community nurse and alcohol worker Jackie Conarty:

"It's 7.5% alcohol and it's never seen an apple in its life. You can buy a two litre flagon for under £2 and that would knock most people out.  It should be banned.  Strong white cider is cheap because it is taxed at a much lower rate than other alcoholic drinks.

The drinks industry cannot justify creating a drink whose sole market is addicts. We did liver toxicity tests on people who drank white ciders and people who drank beers like Tennents Super, which is strong, but is basically malt, water and hops. White ciders are just chemicals. The liver functions were worse in those who drank white ciders."

Anecdotally people often say to us that white cider kills people and that it rots the stomach but where is the evidence?  We would like more information; please send us what you know so we can put the facts to policy makers and the manufacturers of white cider.