Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAP) wishes its readers a Happy New Year. We bring you a bumper edition of news this January following an exceptionally busy last few months and are looking forward to another action-packed year in 2015 with many exciting projects already in the pipeline.

We are particularly excited to welcome to the CAP team Jayne Boote, who will be responsible for new CAP development across North West England, and Dougie Paterson, who will drive new CAP development across Scotland.

We are extremely grateful to our generous funders, who have pledged increased levels of funding for the period 2015-2017. CAP funding partners for 2015-2017 are Aldi, Asda, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), Bargain Booze/Conviviality Retail, Co-op, Diageo, Heineken, Lidl, One Stop, Marks and Spencer, Molson Coors, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, SHS Drinks, Spar, Tesco and Waitrose. Together they have pledged a total of more than £1,200,000 over the next three year funding period.

The support of our funding partners will allow us to offer more CAPs especially in areas with high levels of underage alcohol misuse, and help to fulfil our vision of helping to shape a society in which communities work in partnership to ensure that children do not drink alcohol and develop responsible attitudes to drinking as they become adults.

Look out for the CAP Progress Report, also out this week, which will give full details of all 31 CAPs launched in 2014, a record number in any one year. This includes 9 CAPs in 8 Local Alcohol Action Areas bringing to 12 the number of CAPs set up so far in Local Alcohol Areas.

And finally, thanks to all of you who participated in our first ever Perceptions Survey. The information provided by this survey will be invaluable in helping us to improve the way we reach out to you, our stakeholders.

Following a highly competitive recruitment exercise in December 2014 and January 2015, CAP is delighted to announce the appointment of two new CAP Officers who start in February 2015. Dougie Paterson will be responsible for the CAP programme in Scotland while Jayne Boote will be responsible for CAPs in North West England.

Dougie Paterson joins CAP following 30 years working in various social development areas in government, health and voluntary sectors. Senior roles included management of drug misuse services in Edinburgh; leadership roles in the implementation of Scotland’s national suicide prevention strategy; and Director of the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium. He also led reform of social work services on the island of St Helena for the Department for International Development from 2001-04. Dougie has considerable experience of developing young people’s services, including pioneering early intervention projects and has worked extensively with multi-agency partnerships across all Scotland. He has two postgraduate masters’ degrees and is professionally qualified in social work to Advanced Award level.

Jayne Boote has almost 20 years’ experience working with housing associations to develop and deliver resident engagement, community development and service improvements. She has worked with communities, partner agencies and Government departments to deliver a range of innovative initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour and has extensive experience of establishing and facilitating partnerships with a range of agencies. Jayne is a qualified trainer and regularly delivers training on Government funded programmes to empower communities to take action to tackle local issues. Dougie and Jayne will be key members of the CAP team;

Dougie will be the first point of contact for Partnerships across Scotland and Jayne for CAPs throughout North West England. They join Alan Simpson, CAP Officer for the North East, Russell Sharland, CAP Officer for the South West and Wales, Gillian Powell, CAP Programme Manager and Officer for the South East and Kate Winstanley, CAP Director.

In times of austerity, it's great to hear that two successful CAP schemes have been awarded external funding to continue their excellent work within local communities.

In Midsomer Norton, the CAP successfully applied to the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner's Community Safety Fund and was awarded £15,000 which will be used on a variety of projects including developing a youth forum for young people, a bi-monthly youth night featuring bands and a cinema with an alcohol-free bar and a free online training resource for licensed premises.

The Brecon CAP has benefited from Powys Council's successful application to the Welsh Assembly which resulted in funding for a Substance Misuse Project, the aims of which include reducing the harms caused to individuals and communities by alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour. The positive evaluation [hyperlink to evaluation] delivered as part of the CAP was a deciding factor in attracting further funding. A workstream of the project is to re-invigorate the Brecon CAP and to investigate the feasibility of launching one or more further CAPs within the Powys area once the priority locations have been identified.

The Tipton CAP, which launched in October 2014, is intended as a pilot for a wider roll-out of across the remaining 5 towns within the Local Authority area of Sandwell. One of the first projects initiated by the Partnership is an excellent scheme aimed at young teenagers who are beginning to be involved in nuisance behaviour within the community but have not yet entered the criminal justice system.

Following a series of home visits, parents agreed that their son/daughter will work with the Police on local projects aimed at improving the community for three hours every other Saturday. With support from Asda, 40 out of the 42 young people identified have been involved. The lead Police Officer involved reported that the improvement in self-esteem and behaviour has been remarkable.

A new employment programme in Tower Hamlets CAP is helping young people gain practical work experience and skills to build their confidence.

The first of its kind, Tower Hamlets Council is working in partnership with Gateway Housing Association through their Support to Employment Programme (STEP) and Sainsbury’s to provide young people with two weeks of work experience at Whitechapel Sainsbury’s after completing a short training and qualification course.

The participants will finish with an accredited qualification from City and Guilds which is recognised internationally.

The scheme is being piloted in an area identified as having high rates of anti-social behaviour, targeting NEETs; young people who are ‘Not in education, employment or training.’

Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman said: "This scheme is part of our commitment to support residents into work and promote employment within the borough. This is a great way for young people to take a positive step towards their future and gain life-long skills in the process."

Cllr Oliur Rahman, cabinet member for community safety said: "We aim for the scheme not only to provide young people with useful work experience but also to gain confidence when applying for future opportunities."

To qualify, young people will need to undergo 12 hours of training which will include CV writing, interviewing tips as well as writing assignments done as homework. The two-week placements take eight people at a time, providing 20 hours of work experience a week.

Peter Jones from Sainsbury’s said: "We are excited to be involved in this scheme and hope that young people take advantage of the offer. Having an internship on your CV can help provide a competitive edge when beginning your job search."

The programme is being led by the council’s consumer and business regulations service under the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) in Bethnal Green and St Peters wards.

Most CAPs aim to reduce proxy or agent purchase, whereby young people ask adults to obtain alcohol on their behalf. Proxy or agent purchase remains a relatively common means for young people to obtain alcohol which is why CAP has produced a help note for schemes wishing to undertake proxy purchase activity.

Thurrock Council undertook a number of anti-proxy purchase operations took before the launch of the CAP in 2013. "Operation Pitstop", as the operations were dubbed, took place resulted in a number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) being issued to adults but did not ultimately tackle the problem by educating as many adults as possible.

The approach to tackling proxy purchase since the inception of the CAP has changed in that retailers are now key partners in highlighting the offence of proxy purchase and the issue has been given a higher profile in terms of raising awareness of the offence of proxy purchase.

CAP flyers have been distributed outside all schools in the CAP area and to adults during two ‘high visibility’ patrols and at the CAP launch as well as being provided to all off licences in the CAP area for display at the till points and in windows. In addition, in December 2014, enforcement officers used 15 year old volunteers to ask adult passers-by to buy alcohol for them. Over a quarter of the adults approach agreed to purchase alcohol on behalf of the youngsters. No offence took place, as no alcohol was purchased, and the would-be purchasers were let off with a warning. The operation attracted coverage in the local paper including an editorial comment calling for FPNs going forward.

The Stanley CAP, which was the pilot for the current county-wide Durham CAP, trialled a communications campaign – including posters, adverts on buses and stickers on drinks – aimed at raising awareness among young adults (18-24s) of the offence of proxy purchase. The campaign saw a 20% increase in awareness of the offence of proxy purchase.

With the launch of the county-wide CAP in Durham in July 2014 came a renewed emphasis on cracking down on proxy purchase. "Operation Aries" (which is the name under which the police-led Durham County CAP goes under) encourages retailers and the public to report suspected proxy purchase. This resulted in Durham Police issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice (PFN) to a grandmother who had supplied her 15 year old grandson with 8 cans of cider to take to a house party.

While CAP’s mission is to reduce alcohol harm in local communities with a primary focus on tackling underage drinking, many partnerships have had success in tackling other forms of alcohol harm, including that caused and experienced by "street drinkers".

In the Hastings CAP, which is also a Local Alcohol Action Area, partners identified anti-social behaviour (ASB) problems associated with a street drinking community as a particular problem in St Leonards and implemented a range of actions to tackle this.

One of the most successful single interventions implemented as part of a multi-faceted approach in Hastings was an innovative ‘pop up’ Street Community Hub event. This ran for three consecutive days and brought together all agencies in the area dealing with the street drinking community. Fifty eight problematic street drinkers were engaged with care plans and are being provided with ongoing support – this included 2 x weekly client review meetings.

An evaluation of similar "pop up hubs" in nearby Eastbourne and Bognor can be found here http://shorehomeless.wordpress.com/pop-up-hubs/

The main reason for Great Yarmouth including an objective within their CAP action plan around supporting street drinkers into treatment is that there was evidence that some under 18s were part of the street drinking community.

Herbies, a support facility provided by the Salvation Army has been the main support link for street drinkers in Great Yarmouth. Herbies sit on the CAP working group and provide a drop in centre three times a week in Great Yarmouth town. The CAP partnership has helped to expand the number of agencies who support these drop in centres – up to 16 agencies including Mind, Red Cross, Trading Standards and Police support the centres which attract around 40-60 street drinkers at each session.

Whilst at a Herbies session, service users can use the facilities which include showers, washing machines and internet. A food bank is also set up there and run by the Salvation Army with food parcels provided by Sainburys – as well as direct donations from Sainsburys, there is also a trolley in store where people can donate food towards the food parcels. Herbies also puts on evening activities such as walks and film nights for their service users. Other activities which have been provided via the CAP partnership to support the objective around improving the health of street drinking young people and adults has been as follows:

• The Illegal Money Lending Team provided advice and warm scarves over Christmas with incentives for service users to start saving money with a credit union.
• Trading Standards arranged for the charity His Church to deliver a quantity of rebranded clothing which had originally been seized for being counterfeit.

Great Yarmouth has a number of "no drinking" areas, where police can confiscate alcohol and move along people who are found drinking (Section 27). They are looking to extend this area throughout the district, so that it doesn’t just relocate the drinkers.

Great Yarmouth CAP has not implemented a "Reducing the Strength" campaign" as pioneered in nearby Ipswich, whereby retailers are asked voluntarily to delist beer and cider over 6.5% ABV. Norfolk Trading Standards report that take up of "Reducing the Strength" campaign" has not worked across Norfolk – for instance in Norwich only 2 out of 15 retailers asked whether they would partake were prepared to sign up, citing a conflict with Competition Law regulation.

Great Yarmouth is currently evaluating its CAP and has found that within the CAP area (South Yarmouth) there was a 61% reduction in crime and disorder reports (CADs) relating to street drinking, the most significant drop across Norfolk – there was a 25% decrease in CADs relating to street drinking across the whole of Norfolk between 2011 and 2014. Ipswich reported a 36% reduction in street drinking associated CADs during their "Reducing the Strength" campaign".

More detailed information on Hastings and Great Yarmouth CAP interventions can be found here.

County Durham Youth Drug and Alcohol Service 4Real, Durham Police and a number of schools in the Durham CAP (including Durham High School for Girls) worked together to deliver alcohol awareness sessions to parents in December 2014.

Historically parents are a group that can be difficult to engage with, so by integrating alcohol awareness sessions into parents’ evenings, which tend to be relatively well attended, could provide a helpful model engaging with this audience.

Aries Newsletter Dec 14

Following a number of high profile national Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) cases, the Durham CAP is running a campaign to encourage anyone who suspects CSE to report their concerns at the earliest opportunity to prevent further incidents of this most terrible of crimes.

Sexual exploitation of children and young people involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where the young person receives something (e.g. food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) in exchange for sexual activities. There is an intrinsic link between alcohol and (CSE) with the offer of alcohol being used as a ‘hook’ by perpetrators to build a relationship with a child as well as compounding the vulnerability of the victim to abuse when under the influence of alcohol.

The Partnership is highlighting the warning signs of CSE here:
http://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/child-sexual-exploitation/#warning-signs
and is encouraging the public to report any concerns they may have in relation to locations, vehicles or possible offenders associated with CSE via a number of locally advertised contact details. More information on the campaign can be found herein the
Op Aries Jan Newsletter

Building on an idea first developed by Bath & North East Somerset Council for the Midsomer Norton CAP, Hayling College pupils are creating their own version of the "Toilet Times", a poster campaign using a social norms approach to reinforce positive attitudes and behaviour around alcohol.

The posters will be displayed on the back of doors and next to washbasins in all toilets across the school campus, thereby gaining a captive audience, so to speak.

The social norms approach is a simple, effective and universal approach to addressing a range of risk taking behaviour. It works on the premise that individuals have a tendency to follow the herd (or what they perceive the herd to be doing). An important factor is ‘pluralistic ignorance’ – that is ignorance on the part of the majority about what other people think and do. Therefore, they may indulge in a ‘risky behaviour’ because they (incorrectly) assume everyone else is doing it. It is perfectly suited to underage drinking, given that this is a minority behaviour, and one that continues to decline Portman Group infographics.

The data used in the "Toilet Times" campaign uses local data obtained from public health school surveys. By challenging young people’s perceptions about what is "normal" for their peer group the campaign should, together with other interventions delivered within the CAP area, help to disrupt the current "architecture" around how young people make choices about alcohol use, leading to delay of onset of drinking and prevention of drunkenness and drinking frequency.

Police partners created a CAP Christmas Tree for the display at Kingsthorpe village church in December. The tree was bedecked in police livery and hung with reminders about the problems that alcohol can cause if not used responsibly.

Lots of "freebies" were made available to visitors, who included groups of local school children, enabling partners to get the CAP message across in a festive way.

According to the Verger, the young boys thought that "the police tree was the best."

At the end of the 2014 academic year, Hayling College re-launched the CAP with a special event at the College.

Years 7 and 8 (aged 12-13) received a formal presentation that started with showing the 10 minute CAP promotional film that includes some of the College's staff and pupils. Years 9 and 10 (aged 14-15) then had a carousel of talks and activities all aiming to raise awareness of the issues around young people and alcohol.

Members of the Fire Service, Rangers, Police, Motiv8 Youth Support workers, school nurses, staff from the local Co-op, Tesco's and Sainsbury's, a local resident and teachers - including science staff that showed the effects of alcohol on the liver with an experiment - all gave presentations on the day. The pupils engaged with the adults superbly, many of whom commented on what a successful day it was.

Usually it would be very difficult to co-ordinate so many different agencies working together, but the CAP framework allowed the school to communicate extremely well with a wide range of appropriate partners in the community.

The Forge Youth Cafe in Sutton In Ashfield

Since its launch in October 2014, the Sutton- in-Ashfield CAP has already made much progress including opening The Forge, a new facility for young people; training for all stores in the CAP area and deployment of PCSOs outside all off licences; as well as implementing alcohol education across all secondary schools in the CAP area.

There is great enthusiasm within the partnership which comprises of statutory, on and off licence retailers and third sector organisations. ASDA, Tesco and The Co-operative all have stores in the area and are active supporters of the CAP with CAP meetings being held in the ASDA training room.

A central focus of the Partnership is a new youth facility for Sutton’s younger teenagers. The Forge will give young people aged 13-16 in the town their own space to chill out, and it will be up to them to let partners know how they would like it to be run.

The idea for The Forge was the brainchild of Leut Matthew Brown of Sutton in Ashfield Salvation Army Corps who felt it was vital to give teenagers somewhere to go that isn’t a park, outside a fast food outlet or involving alcohol.

It is not just about nipping anti-social behaviour in the bud - he says he is open to suggestions on how the cafe can become a central part of youngster’s lives and help them fulfil their potential in lots of ways.

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