Alcohol
Thursday May 29th 2008, Kingsway Hall Hotel - London, 09:30 - 14:00
The Licensing Act 2003: Tackling Alcohol-Related Harm?
“The Government has set out a clear and unambiguous message on the harm caused by alcohol. We know the role alcohol plays in violent assaults – almost half of victims of violent crime believe the offender to be under the influence of alcohol and just over a quarter of all people think that drunk and rowdy behaviour is a problem in their area. We see the effects of drink-fueled behaviour on crime and anti-social behaviour."
Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary, February 2008
Overview
On the 4th March 2008, the Government published the evidence gathered so far on the operation of the licensing laws introduced in England and Wales in November 2005. In the report, the government set out how it intends to monitor the licensing regime over the next few weeks and months, and the immediate actions it will take to tackle alcohol-related problems.
Overall, crime and alcohol consumption are down. But alcohol-related violence has increased in the early hours of the morning and some communities have seen a rise in disorder. The main conclusion is that people are using the freedoms but people are not sufficiently using the considerable powers granted by the Act to tackle problems, and that there is a need to rebalance action towards enforcement and crack down on irresponsible behaviour.
Whilst crimes involving violence may have reduced over the evening time period, the evidence points to an increases in offences, including violent crimes, reported between 3am and 6am. This represents 4 per cent of night-time offences. Similarly, whilst there is no clear picture of whether alcohol related demands on A&E services and alcohol-related admissions have risen, some hospitals have seen a fall in demand, others have reported an increase. It is also clear that the overall reduction in alcohol-related disorder that communities want to see across the country has not consistently materialised in all areas.
Agenda
| 09:30 | Registration and Coffee |
| 10:15 | Chair’s Welcome Address Roger King , Director, Office for Public Management (OPM) |
| 10:30 | Alcohol and its Impact on the Health of the Nation Crispin Acton, Programme Manager, Alcohol Misuse, Department of Health |
| 10:50 | The Role of Local Authorities in Promoting Safe, Social, Sensible Drinking Councilor Audrey Lewis, Cabinet Member for Customers and Neighbourhoods, Chair of the Licensing Committee, Westminster City Council |
| 11:10 | Reducing the Incidents and Costs of Alcohol Related Harm Don Shenker, Chief Executive, Alcohol Concern |
| 11:30 | Encouraging Compliance within All Aspects of the Licensing Act 2003 DCS Richard Mann, Head of Operational Support Section, Police & Partnership Standards Unit, Home Office |
| 12:00 | Questions and Answers Session |
| 13:00 | Lunch and Networking |
| 14:00 | Close |
Audience
The audience will be representative of the diversity of the issue and stakeholders present will include, community safety teams, police & fire authorities, LSPs, housing organisations, CDRPs, jobcentre plus, drug and alcohol action teams, licensing officers, headteachers, health professionals, youth offending teams, town centre managers, transport authorities, neighbourhood wardens, victims support, children’s trusts, ALOs, education authorities, licensing teams, environmental professionals, planning authorities, social inclusion officers, community cohesion officers, schools, local criminal justice boards, prison/probation service, PCTs, central government departments & bodies, unions, academia, the private, legal & voluntary sectors and all those involved in building safer and stronger communities.