Oldham Council Underage Drinking Document

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Update on Recommendations of the Project Panel – Underage
Drinking 2008
Chris Sykes, Head of Service, Community Safety Services
10th
January 2011
A PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
At the Performance and Value for Money Select Committee on the 28th
October 2010, it
was requested that a review be conducted of the Underage Drinking
Recommendations, progress to deliver the recommendations, and the new Oldham
Alcohol Strategy.
B BACKGROUND
In 2008 a Project Board was established to consider the nature and extent of problems
caused by underage drinking and to make recommendations which were to inform a
future action plan.
The recommendations came at a time when there was growing concern about alcohol
use, not just with the under-aged but also with the general population of Oldham.
Subsequently a review and rewriting of the borough’s alcohol harm reduction strategy
commenced.
The Alcohol Strategy: ‘putting alcohol in its place’ is a high level strategic document
split into four broad themes :-
• Culture and Communication,
• Children and Young People,
• Treatment and Care,
• Crime, ASB and Safety.
Each of these themes has a strategic lead and a reference group, which are answerable
to the Alcohol Strategy Development Group, which in turn is answerable to the Health
and Well Being Partnership Board.
It was agreed that the recommendations from the Scrutiny Review would be cross
referenced with the alcohol strategy to ensure that all of the points were being
addressed.

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It should be noted that the alcohol strategy is still in its consultation draft and is subject
to change. It must also be noted that the Safe and Strong Communities Board have
commented on the alcohol strategy and have suggested that there needs to be more
focus on prevention in the children and young people’s theme of the strategy.
C THE PROJECT BOARD – UNDERAGE DRINKING RECOMMENDATIONS
The report of the overview and Scrutiny Select Group on Underage Drinking made
several recommendations, divided into several groups, as follows :-
• General Recommendations
• For Government Recommendations
• For the Court Service Recommendations
• For the Council Recommendations
• For the Council and all partner agency Recommendations
Appendix A of this document reviews each of these recommendations, with a particular
focus on the recommendation relevant to Oldham Council and its Partners.
D THE ALCOHOL STRATEGY
The strategy is in its final draft and advice is being sought from EMT / Leadership /
Cabinet on taking this forward for approval in order for there to be a clear vision to
address alcohol related harm in Oldham.
It is acknowledged that implementation of the strategy would require investment above
existing resources to reduce alcohol related harm and that in times of austerity this will
be difficult. At this point agreement is sought to the overall strategic intent without
commitment to specific investment. Investment will be addressed during the creation of
implementation plans for the strategy and agreement to invest will be proposed to the
Health and Wellbeing Board.
The strategy is a coherent vision for the Oldham Partnership to address alcohol related
harm. In implementation, each of the four themes would have an implementation group
which is led by a senior officer. The implementation groups are coming together under
the following headings.
Culture and Communication theme led by the Director of Public Health. Although
there is not a specific implementation group for this theme it will however be serviced by
the overarching Alcohol Strategy Group.
Children, People and Families theme led by the Associate Director of Children and
Young People’s services. The implementation group is serviced by the Children, Young

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People and Families Substance Misuse Group, which is led by the Drug and Alcohol
Action team. This group has recently been convened.
Crime, Anti – Social Behaviour and Safety theme led by the Superintendent GMP.
The implementation group is serviced by the Alcohol and NightTime Economy group,
which is led by Community Safety Services. This group has met on several occasions.
Treatment and Care theme led by the Director of Public Health. However the
implementation group is led by the Drug and Alcohol Action Team through the Alcohol
Treatment Group. This group is established
Each of the implementation groups will produce an action plan for the following year in
order to implement the strategy. However the creation of the initial strategy
implementation plans will be in quarter four of 2010/11; this will be achieved through a
workshop, which will also be the launch of the strategy. All members of the reference
groups, industry representation and Cabinet members will be invited to attend and
influence the implementation workshop.
The current governance arrangements are under review owing to the changes in the
function and membership of the Health and Well Being Partnership Board, which will be
addressed in 2011/12.
E CONCLUSION
Since 2008, significant work has been undertaken across Oldham to tackle the
problems of alcohol and in particular target underage drinking. A new Alcohol Strategy
is being developed and several theme groups are already working to the strategy,
coordinating work across the Partnership to address the issues caused by alcohol.
Significant work has been undertaken to educate and enforce against underage
drinking, such as the Challenge 25 scheme, alcohol awareness publicity and work with
the licensed trade.
There is now a Strategic Coordinating Body in place – the Alcohol Steering
Group, that will now lead this area of work and the majority of the original
recommendations made have been incorporated into that Strategy. In addition, Go
Oldham has been developed to provide coordinated diversionary activities for young
people, reducing Anti-Social Behaviour.
APPENDICES

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Appendix A – Recommendations
Recommendations Progress to Date
General
Recommendations
1. That the good work undertaken by the Council and all
partners to tackle the problems of underage drinking
should be celebrated and the relevant Executive Director
or Partner be authorised to undertake a mapping
exercise to determine what work was being undertaken,
by whom, where and how in Oldham.
There is now a much clearer view of the work being undertaken across
Oldham to tackle Alcohol and Underage Drinking. The Alcohol Strategy and
Steering Group now oversees our response to alcohol problems, with several
sub-groups reporting in. To inform the work a young people’s needs
assessment has been completed, with regards to alcohol and substance
misuse. The alcohol strategy took account of this report.
Recommendation Discharged
For Government –
in response to the
Youth Alcohol
Action Plan
2. That the relevant central government department work
with the Advertising Standards Agency to introduce
tougher controls on TV advertising and Media to ensure
that televised alcohol adverts are not directed at people
under 18 and are not of ‘particular appeal’ to them and,
do not glamorise alcohol consumption.
This is a recommendation for Government. However Oldham is regularly
consulted upon with regards to national policy and also works hard to
influence it. Oldham is represented on the AGMA Licensing Managers Group
and regularly contributes and feedbacks to Government through the LGA
Licensing Policy Forum. A recent example includes the discussions with
regard to the fixed alcohol unit price issue.
3. That the relevant central government department work
with the Advertising Standards Agency to introduce a
compulsory requirement on producers of television
programmes that feature the consumption of alcohol in
their programme/episode, to make a clear statement
about the effects of alcohol and to advertise the number
of units of alcohol consumed daily that are considered
safe in everyday ‘real life’, during and/or at the end of the
programme/episode.
That the relevant Executive Director and partners be
authorised to instigate dialogue with regional film
producers with a view to such statements being made as
referred to above.
As above. In addition, in Oldham we have promoted some short film clips re
alcohol as on the OldhamSays website.

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4. That the relevant central government department
undertakes to look at the way current national
campaigns are undertaken and the way in which those
messages are being received and where. In addition it
should establish what young peoples’ understanding is
of those messages
There have been several recent National campaigns – e.g. The ‘Know Your
Limits’ campaign. And in oldham we have led on providing information to
young people on the effects of alcohol consumption through several different
forum.
5. That the Council and partners lobby local MPs and
central government with a view to ensuring that
measures proposed in the Youth Alcohol Action Plan,
particularly those relating to underage drinking and
which make parents more accountable for the behaviour
of their child, are included in any final documentation.
The Youth Alcohol Action Plan was previously mentioned by the Underage
Drinking Workshop, who recommended this recommendation be deleted.
The YAAP doesn’t exist any longer. In Oldham we work closely with parents
where we can to support their children. In addition, the new Alcohol Strategy
has a Children and Young People section which impacts here.
Some elements in Alcohol Strategy
6. That central government and local MPs be lobbied
with a view to:-
(i) more powers being made available to the Police to
disperse young people from incidents involving alcohol
as they occurred.
(ii) changes being made to the licensing legislation to
ensure that local and other public authorities are
provided with sufficient powers to address incidents
involving young people and alcohol in public places
more effectively.
Underage Drinking Workshop : The powers to issue dispersal orders are
already in place. Fines could not be issued to young people as they would be
under the influence of alcohol and therefore not realise the seriousness of
the fine. Overnight ‘lock-up’ was not an option as it infringed on individuals
human rights. There was a need to focus ‘upstream’ and to ensure that
licensing legislation, which at present was weak, dealt more effectively
with those retailers and individuals who compromised the public
health.
Sufficient powers exist. We have focused our work in the last 12 months on
appropriate use of the legislation, and work with retailers. Challenge 25 has
been introduced and Best Bar None.
Some elements in Alcohol Strategy

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7. That the relevant Executive Director be authorised to
undertake consultation with all schools in the Borough
with a view to making health education an essential part
of the school curricula for all children in Oldham from an
early age, linked to dealing with ‘peer’ pressure.
That the relevant Executive Director, together with
partners, explore the feasibility of providing Personal
Health and Social Education (PHSE) in all schools for all
children aged 5 to 17, tailored according to their age.
Health education in schools exists. The Alcohol Strategy also leads on this
area.
In Alcohol Strategy
16.3 For the
Courts Service
8. That the local Courts Service be urged to consider
more use of Parenting Orders, to place more
responsibility on parents for their child’s behaviour.
This is a recommendation for the Courts Service. The Court Service are key
in the Alcohol Strategy and these activities link with their responsibilities in
the strategy.
In Alcohol Strategy
16.4 For the
Council
9. That the Council work with partners to continue to
develop the website which features the work of the
Council and partners and provides information on the
various activities that are available for young people
Go! Oldham is leading on developing the website to promote positive
activities for young people. Anti-Social behaviour, which includes youths
drinking in the street, is down significantly across Oldham.
Go! Oldham
instigate discussions with local bus companies with a
view to establishing travel arrangements for young
people aged 11 – 18, including subsidised or free travel,
at times suitable to the young people.
School travel difficult to negotiate due to concessionary fare issues, GMPTA
being the concessionary fare authority not us.
No Update Available

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work with partners to develop leaflets to be circulated at
appropriate locations, e.g. Schools and Colleges, retail
shops and stores, leisure centres, Town and District
Centre shopping areas, etc, detailing information about
the activities which are available to young people and
how they could be accessed.
Go! Oldham is leading on developing the website to promote positive
activities for young people. Anti-Social behaviour, which includes youths
drinking in the street, is down significantly across Oldham.
Go! Oldham
liaise with the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
(Oldham Link) with a view to raising the profile of
Oldham as a place to live and work, together with the
opportunities Oldham could offer to prospective
investors.
That research be instigated under the auspice of
Oldham Partnership with a view to determining what
leisure facilities are needed in the Borough, which
should inform the discussions with the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce.
Response from EPS:
The Council is liaising closely with MIDAS which is the appropriate inward
investment agency working on behalf of all of the Greater Manchester
Councils. However, work is currently underway to develop a new marketing
plan for the Borough which will both improve our own approach with potential
investors as well as providing MIDAS with updated materials.
A leisure review is currently underway as a precursor to the proposed leisure
procurement process.
13. That the relevant Executive Director be requested to
draw up a list of any small scale regeneration schemes
that could be implemented quickly, with a view to
attracting larger schemes into the Borough and providing
some of the facilities that are needed for young people.
That the relevant Area Committees be invited to
participate in drafting the final area regeneration activity
plans to ensure that there is sufficient provision for
leisure facilities for young people.
Response from EPS:
At the time of the recommendation, a check was carried out and the ED of
EPS was satisfied that all possible schemes were being taken forward in the
light of available funding. This is still the case.
Area Regeneration Officers work closely with the District Partnerships to
develop suitable schemes where resources are available e.g. sec 106, DP
funding, and also to develop potential projects suitable for funding bids.
These projects have then been included within DP Plans according to the
priorities for each DP.

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14. That the relevant Executive Director, together with
partners, be requested to undertake discussions with
local and regional media and radio stations in Oldham
and the Greater Manchester area with a view to
exploring the possibility of messages about the damage
caused by alcohol abuse being aired.
Community Safety Services have worked closely with local media and their
have been several media campaigns regarding alcohol. Several alcohol
awareness radio messages have been aired on Revolution Radio as an
example.
Go! Oldham
16.5 For the
Council and all
partners agencies
15. That the educational activities and programmes for
parents, together with appropriate literature to raise the
awareness of alcohol misuse and the impact of parents
attitude towards alcohol could have on their child,
continue to be made available and where possible,
extended.
Children and Parenting Issues are included in the Alcohol Strategy –
Page 19
liaise with the Chief Executive of the Oldham Primary
Care Trust (PCT), with a view to exploring other ways of
commissioning alcohol activities, similar to those
commissioned for drug services.
That Oldham PCT continue to provide training of
relevant emergency services staff, social workers,
education welfare workers, health visitors, etc to enable
them to identify possible alcohol misuse in families and
to report cases to the relevant agencies in order that
appropriate intervention may be arranged
Commissioning of alcohol activities is now more coordinated between the
Local Authority and NHS. The Drug and Alcohol Action Team also
commission. More coordination will be achieved through the new Alcohol
Strategy Steering Group.
Treatment and Care Theme of Alcohol Strategy

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17. That the relevant Executive Director and Partners
consider how long-term initiatives and posts to tackle
alcohol related issues could be recruited and funded,
internally and externally of the Council.
Over the past two years several posts have been created to tackle alcohol
related issues. A Violent Crime Coordinator has been in post for some time
now (funded by Area Based Grant) with a focus on the Night Time Economy.
An Alcohol Coordinator, working with the DAAT, is also currently developing
the alcohol strategy for the Borough.
Posts subject to current structure and funding reviews
18. That all staff who work with young people on a daily
basis provide a mentoring role to deter the young people
away from alcohol.
Staff working with young people understand their responsibilities regarding
mentoring. In addition, the wide consultation and support for the new Alcohol
Strategy and its prominence at the Safe and Strong Communities
Partnership Board has ensured its cross partnership support.
Alcohol Strategy
19. That the Partnership with the involvement of all
partners, be requested to review the Strategy developed,
taking into account the initiatives proposed in the
Government’s Youth Alcohol Action Plan, to ensure it is
appropriate to address the issues relating to underage
drinking.
The Alcohol Strategy is now the main product driving the Borough response
to Alcohol, including underage drinking.
Alcohol Strategy
20 (i) That in respect of collaborated working, the
relevant Executive Director in collaboration with relevant
partners, be requested to undertake any further
necessary work to explore the issue further.
to Alcohol, including underage drinking. The strategy has been widely
consulted upon.
Alcohol Strategy

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20 (ii) That the Alcohol Commissioning Working Group
of the Oldham Partnership be requested to coordinate
any actions arising from the recommendations approved
by Cabinet.
consulted upon. A steering group has been developed with several theme
groups driving the work.
Alcohol Strategy
20 (iii) (a) the targeting of parents whose drinking is
causing a risk to the well-being of their child(ren) be
continued;
(b) the introduction and/or use of more educational
activities in schools e.g. drama plays and theatre
workshops with young people in role plays, to raise the
awareness of the problems amongst young people, be
explored;
(c) the production of literature and/or a toolkit for parents
to provide them with knowledge about alcohol misuse
and how to identify symptoms of alcohol consumption;
(d) school staff and/or parents being able to identify
those young people suspected of alcohol misuse;
(e) to initiate and undertake organised activities for
young children such as rock climbing, hill walking,
drama, music art and/or culture classes, adventure
activities, etc;
(f) the Council to encourage partners to apply for funding
and assist where necessary;
(g) production of leaflets giving contact details of
agencies involved in working with young people involved
in alcohol misuse, to be made available to every school
The Children and Young People Theme has two main objectives :-
1. To protect children, young people and families from alcohol-related harm
and encourage a safer relationship with alcohol consumption.
2. To reduce the number of under-18 alcohol specific admissions to hospital
by 5% by 2014/15 compared to 2006/07.
This theme group will consider these recommendations in conjunction with its
overall mandate as described in the Alcohol Strategy.
Alcohol Strategy and Go Oldham

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child parent as well as in schools;
(h) (i) explore the possibility of acquiring empty ‘Pub’
premises for conversion to community/youth activities
use;
(h) (ii) explore the possibility of using council owned
buildings such as schools, leisure centres, etc, for the
provision of appropriate facilities for young people at
times that are suitable to them;
(h) (iii) funding for the purchase of a number of copies of
the DVD entitled ‘Plastered’ at £50 per copy, be explored
jointly with partners;
(i) the DVD be made available to schools and possibly
colleges and the relevant Executive Director and
partners liaise with schools as to the most effective ways
of delivering the DVD messages;
(20)(iv) the relevant Executive Director and partners
liaise with schools and colleges with a view to devising a
educational ‘toolkit’ and other educational programmes
that might accompany the DVD when it is presented to
young people in schools and colleges.
The Children and Young People Theme group will consider these
recommendations in conjunction with its overall mandate as described in the
Alcohol Strategy.
Alcohol Strategy

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(21)(i) That the relevant Executive Directors be
requested to liaise with Oldham Partnership with a view
to establishing a plan detailing the actions required to be
undertaken, with the involvement of all partners in that
process.
(ii) That the Oldham Partnership Alcohol Commission set
up under the LAA Safe and Strong Communities Theme,
in consultation with relevant partners, lead on any
actions arising and report progress on the performance
of those actions, together with any known impact, to the
Performance and Value For Money Select Committee.
Alcohol Strategy

Oldham Council Underage Drinking Document

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