UK launches Youth Alcohol Action Plan
“Safe.Sensible.Social,” the latest instalment in the UK Government’s National Alcohol Strategy was published in June 2007, promised a number of measures aimed at “Preventing harm to those under 18 years of age.”
A social marketing campaign was also promised by the Government, with the goal of creating a culture where it is socially acceptable for young people to choose not to drink, or to start drinking later.
In December 2007, the overarching ‘Children’s Plan’ was published, which included the following promise: “A Youth Alcohol Action Plan will be published in the Spring 2008, around the same time as the new drugs strategy which will improve alcohol education in schools and consider the case for further action on alcohol advertising;”
Because of this very public commitment, the UK Government had little option but to fulfil its promise and publish the Youth Alcohol Action Plan (YAAP) in the first half of 2008; it was published in June.
However, the Review of Evidence on the effects of alcohol on young people, on which parts of the plan were to be based, was not commissioned until April 2008 and is likely to take at least six months to complete. Another review of price, promotion and harm (scheduled originally for completion in April 2008) is now expected to be published in the autumn of 2008, at the earliest.
Consequently, the Youth Alcohol Action Plan launched in June 2008 should be viewed as an interim report. TheYAAP identifies five priority areas for action:
1. Stepping up enforcement activity to address young people drinking in public places.
2. Taking action with industry on young people and alcohol.
3. Developing a national consensus on young people and drinking.
4. Establishing a new partnership with parents on teenage drinking.
5. Supporting young people to make sensible decisions on alcohol.
Enforcement
The plan proposes legislation to give police the powers to disperse under 18s who are drinking and behaving anti-socially from any location, so that this power will no longer be restricted to designated areas. Currently, dispersal orders may be applied to specified locations that have experienced trouble, for a period of up to six months.
Under a dispersal order, police may require groups of people to disperse and leave the area. Under separate legislation, police officers may confiscate alcohol from under 18s in any public place. It is not clear that the proposed legislation will substantially extend police powers. Additional legislation is proposed to extend the ‘Directions to Leave’ powers to 10-15 year-olds.
For repeat instances of public drinking, linked to anti-social behaviour, the YAAP proposes legislation to make it an offence for under-18s to persistently possess alcohol in public places. Again, this would appear to be only a small extension of existing powers to confiscate alcohol from under 18s.
Action by the drinks industry
Voluntary social responsibility standards for the alcohol industry exist and member companies agree to principles that relate to young people:
- To take all reasonable precautions to ensure people under the legal purchase age cannot buy or obtain alcoholic drinks.
- To avoid any form of marketing or promotion which have particular appeal to young people under the age of 18 in both content and context.
A Review of the effectiveness of these standards is currently underway, but the YAAP proposes working with the industry to strengthen them, with a view to making them mandatory.
The remaining actions relating to the alcohol industry all relate to existing measures and are mostly expressed as ‘encourage’ or ‘support.’ The exception is a change to the existing offence of ‘persistently selling alcohol to a person under 18.’ Currently, an offence is committed if, on three occasions in three months, alcohol is sold to an individual aged under18; this will be changed to two occasions.
Regarding the advertising industry, a Review of price, promotion and harm is currently underway (as mentioned above).The plan reports that, on completion of this Review, the government will consider further restrictions on alcohol advertising.
Develop a national consensus on young people and drinking
New guidelines are to be produced by the Chief Medical Officer and will specifically address:
- The age at which children and young people could start to drink alcohol
- How much is sensible for young people to drink
- How far parents or carers should supervise young people’s drinking.
The YAAP states that drinking by young people in the home is for parents and families to decide. The Government wishes to provide information for parents and young people without appearing to tell them what to do.
This is in marked contrast to the Ministerial statement contained in the Foreword: “We will also ensure that parents who fail to take their responsibility seriously will be made to do so.”
Establish a new partnership with parents on teenage drinking
The first proposal is to consult parents, firstly on the YAAP itself, and secondly on the guidelines produced by the Chief Medical Officer. The second category of proposals is to extend existing intervention projects for families in which parents do not “take a responsible approach to their children’s drinking.” These include parents with alcohol misuse problems themselves.
Helping young people make sensible decisions on alcohol
The goal here is to, “create a culture where it is socially desirable for young people to moderate their drinking and not ‘drink to get drunk’.”
However, the principle tool to be employed in the service of this goal is a communications campaign. This will be targeted primarily at 11-15 year-olds and “will aim to bring about culture change, delaying the age at which young people start drinking and for those who do choose to drink, doing so in a lower risk way is viewed as the right thing.” The communications campaign is currently in development. Research is underway to ensure maximum impact and the campaign is due to be launched in early 2009.
The remaining strands presented in this section are continuations or developments of existing activities. Alcohol education in schools is under review and local authorities continue to provide out of school activities as part of the Government’s ten year Strategy.
Finally, the plan reports that alcohol treatment for young people will be improved. Guidance to local commissioners and service providers will be circulated later in 2008.
Dr.Rachel Seabrook.
Institute ofAlcohol Studies, London