Young people and alcohol: the policy responseAs previously reported, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith spoke at a briefing on 6th February to set out the Home Office response to young people's drinking.
The Home Office press release said:
The Home Secretary has announced tough police powers to prevent underage drinking, and called for more involvement by parents and the alcohol industry to deal with the problem of teenage alcohol abuse. Speaking to an audience of police, local authority licencing officers and representatives from the alcohol and retail industries, she described a package of new measures designed to address alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour among young people.
Among the actions to be taken are:
- a crackdown by police on underage drinkers consuming alcohol in public places
- extra powers for police to confiscate alcohol
- wider use of parenting contracts to get parents involved in helping their children deal with drinking addictions
- a new public information campaign directed at binge drinkers
- an independent review of how well industry standards are being met when it comes to responsible sales of alcohol
But the press release oversells things a little. There will be a new TUSAC (tackling underage sales of alcohol campaign) for this half-term, and around 10 new arrest referral schemes later this year. But the widely trailed 'new powers' were not announced; they may be brought in later if the situation does not improve. The wider use of parenting orders is a new emphasis, which may cause alarm in overstretched Youth Offending Teams. Similarly, increasing the use of alcohol arrest referral relies on available capacity in alcohol treatment services that have long suffered from under-investment.
The Home Secretary's speech can be downloaded here.
See Drug Education News for a round-up of reactions to all this, and a difference of opinions in the comments to my previous post.
Jacqui Smith took questions after delivering her speech, in a session chaired by Alcohol Concern's Srabani Sen - click on the audio player below to listen.
- 00.00 should alcohol education be a compulsory part of the school curriculum
- 00.40 how is the government going to link up treatment for harmful and dependent drinkers
- 04.04 what will the government do to enforce the law on young people who attempt to buy alcohol
- 05.56 more confiscation is to be welcomed; as is work with industry on alcohol promotions
- 08.30 what can be done to prevent irresponsible media portrayals of drinking
- 10.34 what will the government do to change the culture of drinking
