ACS has responded to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence’s consultation on preventing harmful alcohol use in the community, calling for any interventions made by public health agencies in local licensing matters to be based on the effective and consistent use of data.
The consultation proposes a quality standard for the way local health evidence, such as A&E data, is used to inform local policy decisions targeted at reducing alcohol harm. In its response, ACS welcomed the Institute’s focus in the area, but raised concerns over the use of aggregate or national data to inform decisions in local areas that go beyond existing licensing objectives.
ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the Institute’s decision to introduce a quality standard to prevent harmful alcohol use in communities. We are aware of increasing intervention by public health professionals in setting of local licensing policies and we hope NICE’s intervention will lead to these interventions being more consistent and targeted at specific local problems. This is particularly important in setting cumulative impact policies, which act as a restriction on opening new businesses, and must therefore be assessed against relevant and locally specific data.
“We are concerned that the standard proposed on underage sales is incorrect and we are calling on NICE to make clear that the objective of all local agencies has to be reducing underage drinking, not treating increased enforcement activity against retailers as an end in itself.”
ACS commissioned research by the think tank Demos to look at innovative ways to tackle underage drinking and is a supporter and board members of CAP (Community Alcohol Partnerships) a programme that brings local stakeholders together to tackle underage sales and alcohol related harm.
The full consultation response is available on the ACS website.
