The government have announced a fund of £1.4 million which will be spent over 69 areas to tackle young people’s drinking in public.
The press release says that the government are expecting local partnerships to develop a 3 point plan of how they will spend the money. These points must include:
- Tough enforcement – confiscating alcohol, using dispersal powers to break up groups of young people getting drunk and causing trouble and behaviour contracts to hold them to account;
- Early intervention and support – giving young people one-to-one support, and youth services working with families to address underlying reasons for young people’s behaviour, using parenting contracts and orders to support parents;
- Communicating to the local community – making it clear to the public what is being done to tackle drunk and disorderly behaviour by young people.
Responding to the announcement Eric Carlin, chair of the Drug Education Forum said:
We support anything that prevents young people being harmed by using alcohol or drugs.
But we do think that local partnerships must work with young people and their families to address young people’s use of alcohol and this must be about prevention as well as enforcement.
We urge the government to make sure that there is proper evaluation of the scheme and to ensure that what happens this summer is followed up by education and support in the autumn.
Filed under: Government, alcohol
