Young People and Alcohol Surprising Results.

I am releasing this letter today because of the implications it holds for our young people. I have met with the Director of Public Health yesterday, and I have been re-assured about the direction the Authority is travelling with regard to the policy development.

Dear Chief Executive
There is a report out today that reflects concern on the amount of alcohol being consumed in England, the report’s conclusions are re produced below which is itself is a report taken from the BBC own web site.
My purpose in writing to you is to make you aware of my concern about statistics that have recently been produced in the Wolverhampton Public Health Report 2012. In our own report it is with concern that the Director of Public Health sets out that 48% of our secondary pupils aged up to 15 years are drinking alcohol, and she quotes that there is clear evidence that they are also involved in other risky behaviour. Clearly there are implications for Schools, Governors the Licensed trade here in Wolverhampton and the Authority along with the parents.
The University Colledge of London Report suggest that surveys currently are not matching with official returns from places like the Inland Revenue and Customs. My question is “Could the missing alcohol be found being consumed by underage children?”
The amount of alcohol consumed in England could be much higher than previously thought, a study suggests.
University College London researchers compared alcohol sales figures with surveys of what people said they drank.
They found there was a significant shortfall with almost half of the alcohol sold unaccounted for in the consumption figures given by drinkers.
This suggests as many as three-quarters of people may be drinking above the recommended daily alcohol limit.
The researchers reached their estimates by factoring in the "missing" alcohol - and found excess drinking was far more than suggested by official figures, they told European Journal of Public Health.
Experts said much alcohol use went unreported, partly because drinkers did not admit or keep track of how much they consumed.
'Health implications'
The study found that 19% more men than previously thought were regularly exceeding their recommend daily limit - and 26% more women.
Total consumption across the week was also higher than officially thought - with 15% more men, and 11% more women drinking above the weekly guidelines.
The current recommendation set by the UK Chief Medical Officers is not to regularly exceed four units per day for men and three units a day for women; the Royal College of Physicians recommends weekly alcohol limits of 21 units for men and 14 units for women - although these are currently under review.
A unit of alcohol is roughly equivalent to half a pint of ordinary strength beer, or nearly one small glass of wine.
Sadie Boniface, lead author of the study at University College, said: "Currently we don't know who consumes almost half of all alcohol in England. This study was conducted to show what alcohol consumption would look like when all of what is sold is accounted for, if everyone under-reported equally.
"The results are putative, but they show that this gap between what is seen in the surveys and sales potentially has enormous implications for public health in England."
The team used alcohol sales data from Revenue and Customs and compared it with two self-reporting alcohol consumption surveys conducted in 2008 - the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) which analysed average weekly alcohol consumption in 12,490 adults, and the Health Survey for England (HSE) which looked at consumption on the heaviest drinking day in the previous week among 9,608 adults.
Counting units
The researchers say they will now look at the characteristics of those that are under-reporting the number of drinks they have had, and why.
They suggest it may be down to drinking patterns and habits - those that are mixing drinks, and drinking at different venues, may be more likely to under-report.
The charity Alcohol Concern suggests irregular and chaotic drinking behaviour may play a part: "When we're totting up our drinks total we don't always count some occasions as proper drinking.
"We may underestimate drink sizes and their alcoholic content, and not count holidays and special occasions like weddings, birthdays and Christmas when we often drink a great deal more than usual."
The researchers suggest that government drinking guidelines need to reflect actual consumption instead of reported drinking - especially when ascertaining what levels are associated with harm.
The Department of Health says this will be taken into consideration in their alcohol consumption review.
It said: "We already know people underestimate what they drink and many drink too much. That's why we work to help people make healthier decisions, including the recent Change For Life campaign to help them track consumption and understand the impact on their health.
"We're also tackling excessive drinking through our proposed minimum unit price at 45p per unit, tougher licensing laws, more GP risk assessments, better access to specialist nurses and more specialised treatment."
Can I ask that the City Council fully investigate this under-age drinking.
The City Council’s own profile suggests that figures illustrate that alcohol related mortality for Wolverhampton has increased over the last 15 or so years. The city as a whole has more than double the national alcohol death rate. Fifty people die each year directly from alcohol in the city. This is twice as many as the national average. Alcohol-related mortality is highest in the most deprived areas. Most life years lost are in the same areas especially in the south east.
Therefore in my own humble opinion there is an urgent need for the City Council to do more to deal with these issues. Would you please therefore consider some kind of Inquiry into these issues here in Wolverhampton, under the direction of the Public Health Director with Member involvement?
I look forward to receiving your response in due course.
Yours Sincerely

Councillor Phil Bateman MBE