The Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) approach to combatting underage drinking has won an award for best initiative in this year's Responsible Drinks Retailing Awards.
The Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) approach to combatting underage drinking has won an award for best initiative in this year's Responsible Drinks Retailing Awards.
The partnership model, pioneered by the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG), has launched successfully in St Neot's, Cambridgeshire and is now being rolled out in other parts of the country, including North Yorkshire, Reading, Kent and the Isle of Wight.
Leaders of the Cambridgeshire project accepted the award yesterday from Licensing Minister Gerry Sutcliffe at the ceremony in London.
The CAP model concentrates on combating underage drinking through better enforcement of existing powers. It brings together off-licence retailers, the police, local authorities, secondary schools, youth clubs and the local press to tackle these problems through the three pillars of education, enforcement and public perception.
CAP is endorsed by the Home Office and has so far achieved significant results in Cambridgeshire, including a 94% decrease in under-age people found in possession of alcohol.
Nick Grant, chairman of the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group, said: "This award recognises what can be achieved when retailers, police, trading standards and schools work together to tackle underage drinking. The project in St. Neot's has been a great success and we look forward to building on this work with other projects around the country."