Trade pledges £800k to tackle underage drinking

Published: 08 July, 2011

The drinks trade has pledged £800,000 to Community Alcohol Partnerships in an effort to tackle underage drinking as part of the government's responsibility deal.

The drinks trade has pledged £800,000 to Community Alcohol Partnerships in an effort to tackle underage drinking as part of the government's responsibility deal.

The project's expansion will be led by Baroness Helen Newlove, who came to prominence as a community campaigner against anti-social behaviour in 2007 after her husband was murdered.

Community Alcohol Partnerships, backed by the Home Office and Department of Health, work to bring together local retailers, trading standards and police to share information and training on underage drinking and anti-social behaviour.

Newlove will chair an advisory board leading the roll-out of the partnerships which will include senior police officers, trading standards, public health community and local government representatives.

Among those joining the Board is Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, one of the UK's largest specialist drug and alcohol treatment charities.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "As well as being a major cause of anti-social behaviour, alcohol misuse costs the health service around £2.7 billion each year. The extension of this partnership is an excellent example of the Responsibility Deal, demonstrating a new effective way of tackling alcohol misuse."

The extra funding will go towards "a significant number" of new schemes and staff as well as extending the programme's remit to cover wider issues of alcohol misuse.

There are currently 35 Community Alcohol Partnerships operating in 13 counties around the UK.

Newlove said: "I advocate local solutions to local problems, and this partnership working based on the road map of successful CAPs will allow us to get a grip on this costly issue not just in terms of money but quality of life for people."

WSTA chief executive Jeremy Beadles said: "This represents a significant investment by retailers and producers in the proven partnership approach to tackling purchase and possession of alcohol by under 18s."

He added that the funding "demonstrates the industry's commitment" to meet the objectives of the responsibility deal.