A new partnership highlighting the risks of underage drinking has been launched in Cynon Valley.

Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAPs) are made up of partnerships between local authorities, police, schools, retailers, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to highlight the risks of underage drinking and improve the health and wellbeing of local children and young people.

The Cynon Valley CAP will work with youth services and local organisations to provide alcohol-free activities for young people. It will also work with local schools to educate young people about underage drinking and ensure that they are equipped to make the right decisions about issues such as alcohol and drugs and anti-social and criminal behaviour.

Working with local retailers CAP aims to help them avoid making underage sales and reduce ‘proxy’ sales where adults buy alcohol for under-18s.

Derek Lewis, Chair of CAP comments: "I am always pleased to see the launch of new partnerships. We know from research that underage drinking can lead to many social and educational problems for children and young people. We also know from our evaluations that CAPs are having a significant impact on reducing alcohol consumption amongst 13- and 16-year-olds in the areas in which they operate.”

“Local CAP schemes are established and run by people from a variety of organisations within their communities, including retailers, local authorities, police forces and schools to identify and tackle the problems associated with underage drinking. All CAPs are tailored to the needs of their local community which means that they are highly effective in getting to the root cause of the problem."

Ends

There are currently over 250 CAPs in the UK. They bring together local stakeholders with a shared interest in preventing underage drinking and encouraging responsible drinking among young adults. CAP partnerships are made up of retailers, local authorities, police, schools, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to protect young people from alcohol harm.

CAP’s annual report, launched at the event, shows how this innovative partnership approach has led to significant reductions to children’s and young people’s drinking, anti-social behaviour and underage sales in areas where it has created local partnerships.

Nationally, CAP evaluations show:

• 64% reduction in weekly drinking for 13-16 year olds
• After CAP training, 98% of retailers passed a Challenge 25 compliance test – from an average baseline of 52%
• 42% reduction in anti-social behaviour
• 40% reduction in residents reporting children and young people drinking in public places to be a very big or fairly big problem

You can download the annual report here: https://www.communityalcoholpartnerships.co.uk/images/CAP_Annual_Review_2022-23_-_digitalFINAL.pdf