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features, july 2007, COMMENTS

At the beginning of June the Government unveiled the new Alcohol Strategy for England. NIGHT sat down with Home Office minister Vernon Coaker to discuss its impact.

Speaking to NIGHT magazine in February, ACPO’s lead on licensing, Commander Chris Allison, called for a holistic approach in tackling alcohol related disorder with a seven point strategy - including city centre planning, ADZs, glass replacement, enforcement against persistent individual troublemakers, and the use of the licence review procedure under the Licensing Act (2003). He also said that this holistic approach would not be complete without a new culture of sensible drinking:

“The underlying problem is a culture of excessive drinking, a culture that cannot be changed by enforcement activity alone. ACPO has always advocated a more holistic approach to resolve this problem and welcomes any Government activity that is designed to deal with the culture issues of excessive drinking.”

The Government’s new ‘Safe, Sensible, Social - The next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy’ document, unveiled by Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker and Health Minister Caroline Flint on 5 June, has accordingly prioritised changing this culture, upgrading the importance of education and information in the Government’s bid to change alcohol harm from the bottom up. The strategy includes a review of health service spending on alcohol related illness, more NHS help for people who want to drink less, further public information campaigns (such as the ‘Know Your Limits’ adverts) and a range of guidance for parents about the dangers and personal responsibilities associated with drinking. The strategy also explicitly reaches out to underage drinkers, emphasising the importance of projects such as Brixton’s council-backed Alcohol, Counselling and Prevention Service (ACAPS) youth project. The Health Office statistics gathered since the publication of the first alcohol strategy in 2004 suggest that young people are adopting increasingly high-risk attitudes to drink, Young People’s Minister Parmjit Dhanda has said.

“The evidence we’ve looked at suggests young people are drinking at a younger age and in greater quantities than before. The Government has signalled its intention in the Alcohol Strategy to provide authoritative, accessible guidance about what is and isn’t safe and sensible in light of the latest evidence from the UK and abroad.”

The new information campaigns will include alcohol information on drinks packaging - a move that mirrors the labelling of packets of cigarettes introduced in the Tobacco Act (1987). In the past, attitudes to smoking and drink driving have undoubtedly been changed by Government information campaigns - how close are we to changing attitudes towards excessive drinking? The road may be a long one, explains Vernon Coaker.

“It’s a difficult question to answer. If you look at drink driving and smoking, attitudes change in terms of decades, not overnight. Nowadays, at a party or a venue, groups of people expect a designated driver, and are pretty knowledgeable about the number of units they’re drinking. That wouldn’t have happened thirty years ago. Ultimately, we want people to police themselves in this way, but the process may be lengthy. The ‘Safe, Sensible, Social’ strategy sets us down the right road. The first thing to do is to clearly send out the message that irresponsible supply of alcohol is unacceptable, but also to provide public information to change attitudes towards drink as well as offer extra services through the NHS to support concerned drinkers as the new attitudes take hold.”

Of key importance to the licensed trade will be a review of the link between alcohol promotions and pricing and levels of alcohol related disorder and ill health. The review will take place in April 2008 and will be followed by a public consultation on what regulatory changes might be made to existing legislation, and in what ways these might be implemented.

While Coaker won’t be drawn into discussing any discrepancies between the corporate social responsibility standards of clubs and supermarkets, any review of drinks retailing will inevitably put pressure on irresponsible drinks promotions in the off trade.

“For obvious reasons the Government does not want to pitch one sector against the other in an ‘on trade versus the off trade’ debate. What we’re about is encouraging both sectors to cooperate with each other in making balanced suggestions on how to avoid alcohol abuse at home or in the streets. Every licensee has a responsibility to look after its customers, and will be treated the same: if you are retailing irresponsibly there will be regulation and, if necessary, further repercussions.”

Cutting supply and changing attitudes is a significant part of reform, says Coaker, but the trade must continue to be vigilant, and the government will be encouraging the police services and local authorities to continue to make best use of the license review procedure while reviewing further enforcement and partnership strategies.

“We will target problem premises,” confirms Coaker. “And if there are persistent problems and underage sales we’ll clamp down hard. We won’t hesitate to use any of the powers available to us to pursue irresponsible club owners.”

Notably, the Home Office will support local action to secure the replacement of glassware and bottles with safer alternatives in individual high-risk premises. Also, a review panel including representatives of the alcohol industry will be set up in 2008 to research how high-risk premises can be best identified. Speaking at the NIGHT magazine and BEDA Polycarbonates Forum in May, Commander Allison restated his position that “there now exists a viable way of dramatically reducing serious injury - by replacing glass with polycarbonate in all on trade premises.”

It is encouraging to see that the Government has pulled short of endorsing the blanket view.

“We’re not about imposing blanket bans on glass,” says Coaker. “I know that there is a worry that there is going be a mass plastic policy. It is important to say that use of plastic will be as a consequence of a risk assessment conducted by local police. Plastic will be a viable option only where it is proved that it will benefit an area or a premises in terms of reducing harm. But again, it will always be subject to individual risk assessments.”

Before this, a review of the industry’s own social responsibility standards will take place in Autumn 2007, looking at the various voluntary schemes such as Best Bar None, Citysafe and Challenge 21, deciding with industry where improvements could be made or regulations introduced.

The review, as with much of the Government’s strategy, will be an opportunity for the nightclub industry to show leadership on the issue of alcohol related harm, and Coaker welcomes the BEDA view that operators should not wait for regulation to be placed at their door, but take the initiative in engaging with partnerships to improve the club scene within their local council district.

“I am not surprised that the licensed trade would want to take a proactive approach, and I very much welcome that. Nobody wants more regulation, and we acknowledge the performance of the licensed trade in curbing underage sales and engaging in partnership initiatives. I have visited many areas blighted by persistent alcohol problems. Without fail, the areas that have shown greatest improvement have always involved licensees, licensing bodies and police sitting around the same table - not enforcement.”

And as such, the Government Office for the Regions will be asked to ensure all Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) - consisting of the police, local authorities, fire and rescue authorities and primary care trusts in England - have by April 2008 a strategy to tackle crime, disorder and substance misuse in their area. Again, industry participation will be key to the CDRPs efforts to manage local night time economies and it is reassuring to know that the trade will not be a junior partner as the various steps of the alcohol strategy are taken.

“Lets be absolutely clear - any review of the alcohol industry will be independent,” Coaker concludes. “But after that we will be consulting widely as the strategy takes shape. We won’t just go away and do it by ourselves. We want to move forward not by enforcing top-down laws but by working together in a cooperative venture.”

Words: Leo Batchelor

From: July 2007

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