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Youth Alcohol Action Plan
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Last modified date:4 June 2008
Sir Liam Donaldson, Ed Balls and Alan Johnson at the launch
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson has announced that he has been asked by the Government to develop guidelines for young people and parents on the risks of drinking alcohol.
The announcement was made by the Chief Medical Officer at the launch of The Youth Alcohol Action Plan (YAAP) on Monday 2 June 2008, which was also attended by the Department for Children, Schools and Families Secretary of State, Ed Balls, Home Office Secretary of State, Vernon Coaker, and Department of Health Secretary of State, Alan Johnson. The YAAP is jointly published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Home Office and the Department of Health and builds on last year’s updated alcohol strategy, Safe, Sensible, Social.
One of the key proposals of the YAAP is to develop a national consensus on young people and drinking with the view that there should be clearer information for young people and parents about the risks of drinking alcohol. The Government has asked the Chief Medical Officer to conduct work which will form the basis of a new set of guidelines on young people and alcohol. These guidelines will cover how young people under the age of 18 could be introduced to alcohol, providing clear information to parents and young people about the risks of early drinking.
Currently, guidelines exist on alcohol consumption for those aged over 18 years of age. However, although consumption of alcohol is legal from age 5 there are no guidelines for under 18s.
The Chief Medical Officer, in co-operation with the three other UK CMOs, and working with the Department for Children, Schools and Families Alcohol Expert Panel will develop these guidelines which will then be consulted on in a full public consultation, before a final set of guidelines are published.
The guidelines will help young people to be aware of the risks to them from drinking and will help them to make sensible decisions, and will help parents know what the dangers are and help them to set safe boundaries with their children.
Speaking at the launch, the Chief Medical Officer, said:
"Fewer young people now drink, but those who do are drinking more - and they are probably unaware of the damage they are doing to their health. So it's essential that young people and their parents have clear, medical guidance.
I will be working with an expert panel, as well as with parents and children, to develop clear information for children, and their parents, about the effects of alcohol."
Background
While the number of young people drinking alcohol has declined, those who are drinking are consuming more alcohol, more often. The average weekly consumption of alcohol reported by young people who drink aged 11-15 years doubled in the 1990s, from an average of 5 units per week in 1990 to 10 units per week in 2000.
The most common reason young people give for consuming alcohol is to help socialise with their peers.
There is increasing evidence of the harms linked to young people’s alcohol consumption – growing levels of liver cirrhosis among people in their 20s, the possible links between alcohol consumption and impaired adolescent brain development, and alcohol consumption can act as a risk factor for difficulties at school, teenage pregnancy, offending and illicit drug use.
The UK has one of the highest rates in the EU of admission to hospital or A&E due to alcohol use by 15-16 year olds.
And the prevalence and volume of offending and violent offending increases for those under 18 who drink more frequently, with those who drank once a week or more committing a disproportionate volume of crime, accounting for 37 per cent of all offences admitted by 10 to 17-year-olds.
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