The Board to receive an update on the Strategic Alcohol Plan for Plymouth 2013-2018.

Stephen Horsley, Interim Director for Public Health provided the Board with the Strategic Alcohol Plan for Plymouth 2013 – 2018.  It was reported that –

(a)        alcohol was an issue in Plymouth with an estimated 60,000 people drinking at hazardous levels;

(b)        the Health and Wellbeing Board was identified as providing the governance for implementation of the plan which has now been in place for 6 months.  The delivery plans shows the progress so far;

(c)        one meeting of the stakeholder group had taken place to ensure the issues relating to alcohol had been taken on Board.   The implementation plan needs wider support from a number of agencies;

(d)        the Evening and Night Time Economy (ENTE) was very important to Plymouth and probably needs more involvement with Economic Development.  Further engagement with Economic Development and partners to possibly fund an ENTE Manager;

(e)        the number of alcohol related admissions had risen at Emergency Departments and there was a need to look at additional support from NEW Devon CCG in relation with the Alcohol Liaison Service;

(f)         the sale of super strength alcohol of 6.5% which are sold very cheaply and potentially cause a lot of problems.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had also highlighted this as an issue and working in partnership would develop the best solution for Plymouth;

(g)        there was a requirement for people to drink responsibly and this strategy would support people to do this.

In response to questions from members of the Board it was reported that –

(h)        Tony Hogg was respectful of the local position and that the impact of alcohol was enormous in terms of families, children, hospital admissions, policing etc and the hidden costs.  Tony would be looking at this for Devon, Cornwall, Isles of Scilly and Torbay and would work in line with Plymouth’s views.

Agreed that -

1.         The current Year 1 Implementation Plan is reviewed to include specific timescales, metrics and -

            a.         the Plan is represented to the Health and Wellbeing Board at its next meeting;

            b.         a formal projects review is carried out and is reviewed at the Health and Wellbeing Board in the Autumn 2014.

2.         a.          The Stakeholder Group (Alcohol Programme Board) lead the delivery of the Plan through development and implementation of annual Delivery Plans;

b.             Accountable Leads, as identified within the Implementation Plan, provide assurance of delivery for their specific domain areas.  Annual statement of progress is provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board;

c.             a review to take place on the membership of the Stakeholder Group (Alcohol Programme Board) to ensure the right people are on this board to deliver the plan.

3.         The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board will meet with the Chair of the Growth Board to ensure alignment of strategic positioning and ownership of the plan;

4.         The NEW Devon CCG considers how best the plan can be supported across health agencies and Public Health and reports back to the Board how this might be reflected through its commissioning infrastructure;

5.         The Police and Crime Commissioner’s current work to engage the alcohol retail sector is aligned to the city’s work to reduce the availability of super strength alcohol products.