Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

Alcohol Network

The Alcohol Network aims to develop pledges for action in promoting sensible alcohol consumption and is part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal networks. The network is co-chaired by Jeremy Beadles, the Chief Executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, Professor Mark Bellis from the Faculty of Public Health, and supported by Paul Burstow MP, Minister of State for Care Services at the Department of Health.

In a newsletter published in July 2011 the trio co-chairing claim that 220 partners have signed up to the network and their details will be published soon, as of 7 September 2011 they have not been published. They claim that at least half of these 220 have signed up to at least one of seven pledges made on alcohol. The document also reveals that the next phase of work will focus on education, reducing measure size, lowering alcohol and smaller measures. Corporations and other partner organisations have apparently been keen to sign up to these work streams. Details of the organisations involved and their specific commitments to the group's pledges can be found on the DoH's website: Responsibility Deal Partners

Criticisms

Those invited to participate in the network are listed below, however after initial meetings (by March 2011) leading alcohol charities and health advocacy groups refused to join the group arguing that the government was not taking a robust enough approach with the alcohol industry in relation to public health. The six include Alcohol Concern, the British Association for the Study of the Liver, the British Liver Trust, the British Medical Association, the Institute of Alcohol Studies and the Royal College of Physicians.

Public health advocacy groups argue that the pledges developed by the network are skewed in favour of the alcohol industry, providing an inadequate response to the severity of alcohol related harm in the UK. The pledges themselves continue to be vague and difficult to measure and do not contain evidence based measure to elevate rates of harm caused by alcohol consumption. The alcohol industry has refused to consider banning alcohol advertising that is based on price, including health warnings on the labels of all alcoholic drinks and to end advertising in cinemas when films for under-age viewers are shown.

Examining the pledges offered by the network makes it difficult not to agree with these criticisms. It is clear that this strategy is a continuation of what has gone before. Encouraging the alcohol industry to become a responsible sector on a voluntary basis has been found to be fruitless before. The alcohol industry is in the business of selling alcohol how can it also be leading the charge on promoting public health and reducing alcohol related harm. This is evident in the pledges that the industry is willing to sign up to, they are the least likely to make an impact on alcohol related harm and subsequently make the least impact on alcohol industry profits.

Collective Alcohol Network Pledges

• By December 2013 over 80% of products will be labelled with clear unit content, NHS guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant.
• Provide information for on-trade products on unit content and explore ways of communicating health messages
• Provide information for off-trade products on unit and calorie content and NHS guidelines
• Ensure action taken to reduce and prevent under-age sales of alcohol
• Continue to fund Drinkaware Trust and the “Why let the Good times go bad?” campaign as set out in the Memoranda of Understanding between Industry, Government and Drinkaware Trust.
• Further action on advertising and marketing with the development of a new sponsorship code requiring the promotion of responsible drinking, not putting alcohol adverts on outdoor poster sites within 100m of schools and adhering to the Drinkaware brand guidelines to ensure clear and consistent usage.
• Provide support for schemes appropriate for local areas to address issues around social and health harms, and will act together to improve joined up working between such schemes operating in local areas as: • Best Bar None and Pubwatch, which set standards for on-trade premises • Purple Flag which make awards to safe, consumer friendly areas • Community Alcohol Partnerships, which currently support local partnership working to address issues such as under-age sales and alcohol related crime, are to be extended to work with health and education partners in local Government • Business Improvement Districts, which can improve the local commercial environment

Individual Pledges agreed between partners and Co-Chairs

• Asda by 30th April 2011 will no longer display alcohol in the foyers of our stores
• Asda will provide an additional £1m to tackle alcohol misuse by young people
• Heineken aim to remove 100 million units of alcohol from the UK market each year through lowering the strength of a major brand by 2013
• Heineken will distribute 11 million branded glasses into the UK on trade showing alcohol unit information by end of 2011
• Diageo Three year project to extend the NOFAS-UK “What Do You Tell A Pregnant Woman About Alcohol” programme across England & Wales to inform over 1 million pregnant women of what they need to know about alcohol in pregnancy
• Diageo, Molson Coors, Heineken & Bacardi Brown Forman together commit to working with the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) and The Home Office to support the continuation and further development of the Best Bar None scheme for at least the next three years. Invest at least £500,000 (commencing May 2011) and add a further 20 schemes in that time.
• Community Alcohol Partnerships (& supporting partners) will expand the reach of Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAPs) in the UK through an investment of at least £800,000 by alcohol retailers and producers over the next three years. This will significantly increase the number of CAP schemes in local communities and extend their remit beyond tackling under-age sales to wider alcohol-related harm.

Labelling

Commitments to achieve labelling standards will be overseen by the Portman Group the labelling system requires alcohol companies to provide clear unit information, recommended daily limits and a warning directed to pregnant drinkers. In addition a voluntary element asks producers to consider including a reference to Drinkaware Trust and a slogan such as ‘please drink responsibly’. This is not a new role for the Portman Group the industry already has a voluntary labelling code for strengthening the health messages on alcohol labels, however the industry has failed to implement its own voluntary code. A report commissioned by the Department of Health in 2009 found that only 15% of the industry's labelling conformed to the self regulatory code. This research was undertaken by Campden Brewing Research International a research company who also lobby politicians on the health benefits of beer. Perhaps unsurprisingly Alcohol Concern's research into labelling standards found that only 4% of alcohol labels adhered to the voluntary code.

Monitoring and Evaluation Group

• Mark Bellis Chair
• Sarah Woolnough Cancer Research UK
• Nick Sheron Clinical Hepatologist, University of Southampton
• David Poley The Portman Group
• Andy Tighe British Beer & Pub Association
• Secretariat provided by Jean Nicol Department of Health

Invited Attendees to Initial Meetings

• Dr Adrian Bonner Institute for Alcohol Studies
• Alison Douglas (Observer) The Scottish Government
• Alison Rogers British Liver Trust
• Andrew Opie British Retail Consortium
• Brigid Simmonds British Beer and Pub Association
• Bruce Ray Bacardi Brown Forman Brands
• Chris Heffer Department of Health
• Don Shenker Alcohol Concern
• Erik Castenskiold Mitchell and Butler
• Guy Mason Morrisons PLC
• Sir Ian Gilmore Alcohol Health Alliance
• Jonathon Shepherd Cardiff University
• Kay Wheelton The Co-operative
• Kieran Simpson Heineken UK
• Kirsten Wolfe SABMiller
• Laura Davies Wine & Spirit Trade Association
• Liam Hughes Local Government Association
• Mark Bellis North West Public Health Observatory
• Dr Martin Lombard National Clinical Director for Liver Disease
• Michelle Norman Constellation Wines Australia and Europe
• Nick Sheron University of Southampton
• Owen Davies (Observer) Welsh Assembly Government
• Paul Kelly ASDA
• Paul Lincoln National Heart Forum
• Richard Cochrane Bibendum Wine Ltd
• Rob Phipps (Observer), Northern Ireland Government
• Sarah Woolnough Cancer Research UK
• Scott Wilson Molson Coors
• Seymour Fortescue Portman Group
• Vicki Nobles Diageo GB
• Prof. Vivienne Nathanson British Medical Association

Related Responsibility Deal Networks

• Public Health Responsibility Deal
• Public Health Responsibility Deal Plenary Group
• Responsibility Deal Food Network
• Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network
• Responsibility Deal Health at Work
• Responsibility Deal Physical Activity
• Responsibility Deal Behaviour Change