Third of 12 to 15-year-olds drink each week in Worcestershire

7:10am Monday 28th January 2013 in News

By Robert Cox

A THIRD of 12 to 15-year-olds in Worcestershire have had at least one alcoholic drink a week it has been revealed.

High levels of alcohol abuse in the county have led Worcestershire County Council to announce a plan to tackle the problem.

The council said that more than 100,000 adults in the county drink at levels that increase the risk to their health, while 36 per cent of 12 to 15-year-old youngsters had a drink each week.

Conservative councillor Marcus Hart, chairman of the county’s health and wellbeing board, said: “We need to work to develop a culture where sensible drinking is the norm and will work with colleagues in licensing and planning to ensure license-holders act in responsible ways.

“This will include developing accreditation schemes for licensed premises and supporting the development of alcohol-free public activities and venues.”

The plan, announced earlier this month, was drawn up following a consultation exercise carried out last November. Mr Hart added: “Our Big Drink debate attracted a lot of interest from partner organisations and the general public and showed people agreed the best ways to tackle the problem are better education, encouraging personal responsibility, making sure treatment is available as well as ensuring licensed premises are drink aware.”

Comments(11)

kjb1 says...
9:06am Mon 28 Jan 13

so is it not a mistake building a home for the young homeless in Bromsgrove Street for vulnerable young adults so close to a cheap drink outlet shop ?

Report this post »

walkerno5 says...
10:15am Mon 28 Jan 13

The headline is fairly meaningless though isn't it? Gives the same weight to a 12 year old smashed off his face on vodka every friday in the park as a 15 year old having one glass of wine with family at sunday lunch.

Report this post »

FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
10:22am Mon 28 Jan 13

"accreditation schemes for licensed premises" there's something similar in place already it's called the "license".

Best you can do is hand out some posters along the lines of "Under-age drinking can cause brain damage" and hope attention is paid to them. I mean you think people will go "Gosh this retailer is a member of the district's alcohol scheme, I shall now choose to frequent this establishment over others"?

Report this post »

stourport2012 says...
2:50pm Mon 28 Jan 13

In my experience the more you try and stop or warn young people about something the more they want to go ahead and do it.

Report this post »

stour67 says...
5:18pm Mon 28 Jan 13

put the price up out of their reach fast enough to do it with smokers,when was the last time a smoker threatened to smash your face in because the way you looked at them.

Report this post »

harryurz says...
9:33pm Mon 28 Jan 13

I'd like to see specific references to the percentages referenced by the Shuttle; a quick bit of research shows that in England in 2008, 18% of 11–15 year-olds adnitted to drinking weekly (3% of 11 year olds rising to 46% of 15 year olds).
Source: "The Drug Use, Smoking and Drinking among young people in England 2008" report and "The Chief Medical Officers Guidance for parents on underage drinking 2009"

So where do the above figures come from?

Report this post »

Saintinexile says...
10:53pm Mon 28 Jan 13

I suppose the figures could have been higher, if the others quizzed had got a babysitter,but it was a school night

Report this post »

kjb1 says...
8:24am Tue 29 Jan 13

I wonder if Mr Hart has ever been out in Kidderminster on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and seen the sensible landlords and their staff who ask for youngsters IDs if in doubt and the nightclubs and pubs who attract them with cheap drink offers !!

Report this post »

walkerno5 says...
3:32pm Tue 29 Jan 13

Come come kjb1, I think we all know Mr. Hart has been out on these nights and was in fact photographed climbing up a road sign or similar on one occasion.

Report this post »

harryurz says...
4:17pm Wed 30 Jan 13

".....pubs who attract them with cheap drink offers !!”
....where was this ? - It's okay I'm over 21! ;-)

Report this post »

CloudChamber says...
8:21am Thu 31 Jan 13

The data appears to come from a 2009 survey of Worcestershire school pupils - http://bit.ly/YFX3Gy - so the data is a bit old. Nevertheless, it seems to be the underpinning evidence for the new Worcestershire Alcohol Plan, which is why the info has now reached the news.

While the overall rate of drinking is recorded by the survey as 36% (Q: Have you had at least one alcoholic drink in the past week?), this hides big differences between the two year groups that were surveyed: in Year 8 the rate was 23%, for Year 10 it was 50%.

Interestingly, the data suggests some positive trends in under age drinking. For example, the figure for Year 8 pupils in 2004 was 40%.

Of course, that's not to say it isn't still a problem, and one that deserves addressing.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree