Government unveils new laws to combat underage drinking

New laws to combat underage drinking were unveiled by the Government this week as part of a comprehensive plan to stop young people drinking in public, help them make the right decisions about alcohol and provide clear information to parents and young people about the risks of early drinking.

The use of acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) and parenting orders will be put in place to address the most serious and persistent cases of public drinking by young people, and provides new legislation which will make it an offence for under-18s to persistently possess alcohol in public places.

“I will introduce brand new legislation which is designed to tackle under-18s who won’t change their ways,” said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. “All of us: Government, the police, alcohol retailers, community workers and parents – particularly parents – have a responsibility to face this challenge head on. Now we have the powers in place, it’s time to use them to their full effect.”

The Youth Action Alcohol Plan, a joint initiative between the Government, the Health Department and the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF), will address drinking by young people in three main ways: working with police and the courts to make it clear that unsupervised drinking by young people under-18 in public places is unacceptable; recognising that drinking by young people in the home is clearly the responsibility of parents and families, providing clearer health information about alcohol consumption; and working with the alcohol industry to reduce the sale of alcohol to under-18s.

Under the new initiative anybody looking under 21 will be challenged by bars and off-licences to prove they are an adult before being sold alcohol.

Vendors will also be subjected to a ‘two-strikes’ rule on selling booze to children as ministers seek to curb binge-drinking among teenagers.

Other moves include criminalising under-18s who refuse to stop drinking in the streets and court orders requiring their parents to step in.

“These new measures have been introduced to give the police powers to tackle young people who harm themselves and their communities by persistently drinking unsupervised in public places,” said a spokesperson for the DCSF.

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: “We have consistently campaigned for the Government to take stronger action to reduce the considerable levels of teenage alcohol misuse and its associated harms. We’re therefore delighted to support the launch of this new action plan which promises a series of improved interventions.”

However, Lee Berry, thematic policy advisor for Manchester City Council’s Crime and Disorder Unit, said the the new enforcement measures risk being undermined by a human rights agenda.

“Law enforcement must be careful not to criminalise young people. We have seen similar measures, such as dispersal legislation, successfully challenged in the past, and that would limit the impact of the action plan.”

Mr Berry said that as a result of the work he and his team have been carrying out, the impact of the new measures will easily be gauged.

“We have established patterns of young people drinking in public and know the hotspot areas. It will be interesting to see how quickly the action plan will be progressed and how quickly the courts and enforcement methods take effect. We will be able to identify if persistent young people who abuse alcohol are being targeted.”

Mr Berry added that despite cracking down on off licenses and retailers who supply alcohol to underage drinkers, there is a wider social issue that needs to be addressed.

“From work we have conducted, we don’t consider the supply of alcohol to be the major problem, but rather the wider issues of what is considered to be socially acceptable drinking and the behaviour that mirrors that attitude.”

The Government said the number of 11 to 15-year-olds drinking regularly had fallen from 28 per cent in 2001 to 21 per cent