Issue - items at meetings - Update on the Alcohol Project Board

Report of the Public Health Team.

56.1         Tom Scanlon, Director of Public Health, and Kathy Caley, Commissioning Manager - Alcohol and Substance Misuse, presented a report on the work of the Alcohol Project Board and answered committee members’ questions.

Members heard about the impact of alcohol on crime and health in the city, balanced against the economic benefits, it is a key part of our day and night time economy.

The Alcohol Project Board has been in place since late 2010, bringing together bodies from across the city with a responsibility for alcohol-related problems. It has also managed to involve retailers for the first time, which has brought an added dimension to the Board’s work. The Board has had a number of successes already, including the appointment of nurses dedicated to working in hostels, and alcohol liaison nurses in A&E.

The members heard, despite preconceptions, that the vast majority of alcohol problems were caused by Brighton and Hove residents not by visitors.

56.2         Mr Scanlon and Ms Caley were thanked for the informative report. Questions and comments included:

• HWOSC members would like to see democratically elected members represented on the Alcohol Programme Board.
• Changing the city’s culture would be the biggest problem
• Would a late-night levy help?
• Could there be more alcohol free spaces open late at night?
• It was important to keep the funding for the Safe Space

56.3         Members asked what outcomes might be achieved by retailers’ involvement in the Project Board?

Dr Scanlon said that retailers were committed to removing millions of alcohol units from sale by promoting lower alcoholic alternatives. By retailers becoming involved in the Project Board, they can demonstrate that they are responsible retailers.

The Project Board was trying to look at things in an alternative and creative way. For example, the Events team would be coming to the next Project Board meeting to talk about why event sponsors tend to bring more alcohol to an event in addition to that which is already available in the city.

56.4         Members asked for more information about the Bevy pub. Ms Caley offered to send a YouTube link to members to a film which Public Health had funded

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsp3qmlO_pQ)

Public Health are also looking to run some community services from the Bevy when it is open.

56.5         How can we change the drinking culture that we have in Brighton and Hove? How do we present ourselves to people outside, should we look to change the focus of our tourism approach?

Dr Scanlon said that it would be helpful to change the culture to something more manageable. He was keen to get better engagement with the universities, and hoped that they would promote themselves as more than just somewhere with lots of bars.

Dr Scanlon said that, the more that alcohol is available, the more people will drink. There is a very high concentration of alcohol in the centre of the city. Maybe alternatives could be to promote more events as family friendly, or alcohol-free, but without being ‘anti-fun’.

The Local Alcohol Profile for the city showed Brighton and Hove as significantly worse on a number of performance indicators including alcohol specific mortality and hospital admissions.

56.6         Could Dr Scanlon give some more information on the effect of alcohol on young people?

Dr Scanlon said that studies across entire populations of young people showed that alcohol caused a differentiation in brain development in younger people. Locally, 9% of 14/15 year olds had been drunk three or more times in a month, in comparison with 5% nationally.

56.7         The Chair thanked Dr Scanlon and Ms Caley for their report and assistance. HWOSC had been asked to hold a scrutiny panel looking at alcohol in the city and there was a lot of information in the report that would prove very useful in directing the panel’s attention. The report had suggested three specific areas that could usefully be looked at through a review panel – these were:

·        Development of alcohol free events

·        Development of best practice retailers

·        Improving the environment by encouraging responsible drinking

The Chair said that he would like to add a fourth suggestion:

·        How Brighton and Hove brands itself as a party town.

The four panel theme suggestions were agreed by HWOSC members.