Agenda item

A presentation was carried out by the Community Safety Officer on the needs of Newcastle Borough in relation to alcohol.

This year’s Alcohol Awareness Week was running from the 17^th to the 23^rd November. The theme for this year was ‘Facing our alcohol problem: Taking back our health and high streets.’

The total population of Newcastle Borough was 125,000.  The number of jobs in the Borough had decreased by 1,000 over the last decade.

Alcohol related admissions (per 100,000 persons) to hospitals in Newcastle were higher than England in 2012/2013.  This equated to around 3,200 admissions in Newcastle.

The rate of crime per 1,000 residents in Newcastle Borough was higher than the county average.

The second part of the presentation was carried out by the Partnerships Manager.

Newcastle Partnerships was established in 2012.

There was a Newcastle Partnership Strategic Board who met twice a year to set the vision for Staffordshire. The Board empowered individuals with the responsibility and accountability to oversee the delivery of shared priorities.

A Partnership Delivery Group met bi-monthly with ad-hoc meetings.

There were three tier operational groups which were Officer orientated, Task and Finish Groups and finally there were the Locality Action Partnerships which, within the Borough, consisted of nine and were attended by representatives from the public and the private sector to support.

The Community Safety Officer summarized the alcohol projects:-

(a)   Purple Flag – this was an accreditation scheme.

(b)   Reducing the Strength – a campaign had been launched “Reducing the Strength" by Newcastle Borough Council and Staffordshire Police and would be delivered to other localities within the Borough.

(c)    First Aid Triage and Street Chaplains – St John Ambulance and the Red Cross work with the Borough and act as a focal point to the town centre.  Street Chaplains patrol the town centre on a monthly basis and are voluntary pastors.

(d)   Dependent Drinkers/Social Inclusion Case Conference – the conference was working well.

(e)   I’ll be Des - The principle of the scheme was that participating venues offer free or reduced price soft drinks to the 'designated driver' from a group of customers e.g. groups of three people or more. The aim was to encourage groups to nominate a driver and to make driving more 'attractive'.

(f)     Alcohol Education in Schools Project – this was presently run by Entrust and was a county wide project.

It was asked if there was a requirement to enforce more action from Staffordshire Police.  The Chair advised this was the responsibility of the Licensing Committee.

It was felt by the Vice Chair that partnership working was vital and there was a need to work with each other and asked for a commitment from North Staffordshire Combined Health NHS Trust to get involved in these structures.

The Director of Operations agreed to this commitment.

Resolved:-  

(a)   That Committee receive the work Newcastle Partnership undertake around preventing and dealing with alcohol related issues in the Borough.

(b)   That partnership working with Staffordshire Combined Health NHS Trust and Newcastle Borough Council be undertaken.