The Scottish Government

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5. Prevention and education

Aims:

• To change unhelpful perceptions of, and attitudes to, alcohol in Scotland, offering realistic options and alternatives.
• To promote clear and consistent messages relating both to responsible alcohol use and alcohol problems.
• In the longer term to contribute to the aim of reducing alcohol consumption by some groups, reduce harmful drinking patterns and reduce specific risks relating to consumption such as hazards through work or sports.
• To develop a clear and coherent strategic approach to alcohol prevention and education activity in Scotland which addresses the needs of a variety of population groups in a range of settings such as educational settings, the health service, the workplace and the community.

Key actions to date

• Establishment of a national substance misuse communication group which facilitates stakeholder engagement in the development and delivery of national communication activities.
• Support for the Gender Issues Network on Alcohol ( GINA) which came into existence through growing recognition of the increase in alcohol consumption amongst women and the subsequent associated health and social problems which they incur.
• Execution of national communications campaigns to start to change harmful attitudes to alcohol including the Alcohol. Don't Push It execution.
• Support for local communications activities delivered by the ADAT network.
• Production of a guide to help parents discuss alcohol with their children.
• Work by AFS and the National Union of Students ( NUS) to promote responsible drinking in Scottish universities and colleges.
• Publication by the Mental Health Foundation of their report Cheers?: Understanding the relationship between alcohol and mental health.
• The development of a national suite of alcohol education leaflets addressing a range of issues related to alcohol and its consumption.
• Signing by the Minister for Health and Community Care of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Drinkaware Trust to establish an independent UK wide body with the objective to positively change public behaviour and to help reduce alcohol misuse and minimise alcohol-related harms.

Communications

5.1 Communications are an essential part of a wider programme of action to change Scotland's harmful drinking cultures. Our activity to date has focused on getting young adults to take responsibility for their behaviour when drunk and to think more about the negative effects. This has included a television advertising campaign which prompted its audience to consider "How Much is Too Much?", a high profile press and poster campaign around the slogan "Don't let too much drink spoil a good night out" and information about women and alcohol entitled Get the Full Bodied Facts.

5.2 The Executive has recently launched a new, integrated and long-term alcohol communications campaign, aimed at making individuals question the role they play in perpetuating the Scottish culture of drinking simply to get drunk. The overarching theme of the campaign - Alcohol. Don't Push It - is about acting responsibly and exercising personal choice in relation to the consumption of alcohol. It is about encouraging individuals to look after themselves and their friends by considering the potential consequences of having "just another drink" when they feel they have had enough, or encouraging their friends to do the same. The campaign includes a TV and cinema commercial; billboards; telephone helpline; website; and information leaflets.

5.3 The Executive's communications work has complemented the communications activity of NHSHS who have targeted 14 to 17 year olds through their "Think about it - alcohol" campaign, and the Portman Group's "If you do do drink, don't do drunk" campaign which targets 18 to 24 year olds. Responsible drinking messages are also part of the Dialogue Youth-Young Scot initiative which delivers co-ordinated services and information to young people and promotes active citizenship.

5.4 Schools, in partnership with the home and community, make a difference to the health behaviours of young people. By 2007 every school in Scotland will participate in delivering Integrated Children's Services thereby providing opportunities to promote healthy attitudes to alcohol amongst young people. 94% of schools are now providing alcohol education as part of substance misuse education in line with national advice. Significantly, 60% of secondary schools in Scotland have ordered a copy of 'Streetwise', a new interactive classroom resource on alcohol, published in May 2006 by The Drinkaware Trust, compared to 43% for the UK as a whole. The Institute for Social Marketing at the University of Stirling have undertaken a large scale evaluation of the effectiveness of school substance misuse education; and the findings of this work will be used to inform future content and delivery of alcohol education.

5.5 The Portman Group - together with all the Devolved Administrations, the Department of Health and the Home Office - have launched the new Drinkaware Trust, to be funded by the industry but independently governed. The Trust will provide a mechanism for government-industry partnership on public education campaigns, and will offer a resource base and partnership mechanism for the Executive to pursue strategies and plans of action to combat alcohol-related harms.

5.6 To complement this work the Scottish Executive is involved in a long-term partnership with the alcohol industry to identify and implement activities to reduce alcohol-related harm, via joint action.

Positive alternatives

5.7 Developing targeted education, prevention and rehabilitation services for children affected by alcohol or drug misuse is a priority of the Changing Children's Services Fund which amounts to £65.5 million in 2005-06. A significant number of local authorities and their planning and service delivery partners in health and the voluntary sectors have developed integrated services for children targeting substance misuse. Some of these services are localised in particular communities, e.g. a named school while others operate on an authority wide basis.

5.8 The Executive has established a funding partnership with Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland - the Partnership Drugs Initiative - to support voluntary organisations working with children and young people affected by substance misuse. Over £10 million has been committed to the programme from four funding partners. The Scottish Executive has committed £4 million in total (£750,000 for the current financial year, 2006-07).

5.9 To date, the Partnership Drugs Initiative has provided 126 grants totalling in excess of £9 million to 96 projects throughout Scotland. 20 out of 21 ADAT areas in Scotland have received funding to develop services in their local areas. 32% of funding has been awarded to projects helping children affected by parental substance misuse and 68% has been awarded to projects helping children and young people who have developed their own, or are at risk of developing their own, substance misuse problem.

5.10 One reason often cited for underage drinking is a lack of positive and affordable alternatives. Substantial investment is being made available to expand the provision of diversionary activities for young people. We allocated £10 million during 2004-06 for a Local Action Fund to support community based projects for young people. The fund was subsequently extended and a further £10 million was made available for 2006-08.

5.11 The Fund, which is being administered by Community Safety Partnerships, is supporting a range of local activities, including improving local community facilities, buying sports or leisure equipment and running clubs or activities to divert young people away from crime and antisocial behaviour.

5.12 Alcohol-related violence and disorder is a key issue for community safety in Scotland. The majority of Community Safety Partnerships will either state it directly as a priority issue or refer to the subject indirectly through workstreams such as anti-social behaviour, youth diversionary activity or reducing violence. In addition, alcohol is raised as an issue in terms of accident presentation, road and home safety. The Scottish Executive provides £4 million a year for a Community Safety Partnership Award Scheme across all 32 Community Safety Partnerships to support a range of community safety activities, including those relating to alcohol and its effects.

5.13 We have made available £12 million per annum during 2003-07 to support the Active Schools Programme which supports the Health Promoting Schools concept by aiming to increase participation in sport and physical activity. This is in addition to the £87 million being provided for sport and physical education in Scottish schools through the New Opportunities Fund.

5.14 Youth CAFEs in Action was a three-year pilot project, developed by the Prince's Trust and their partners in 1999 to provide safe meeting places for young people in the Highlands and Islands. There are now youth CAFEs in all ADAT areas and the Executive's Partnership Agreement gives a commitment to continue to support these facilities and other alcohol free activities for young people. This support includes the development of guidance on setting up and running youth CAFEs which has already been developed in conjunction with the Prince's Trust.

5.15 Critically, what is important is that young people's views are used to inform development of national alcohol communication messages. Young Scot are already represented on the National Substance Misuse Communications Group; and it is proposed that through this and the Dialogue Youth forums, strategies are developed, as appropriate, for engaging with Young Scot members and for ensuring the national entitlement card - sponsored by Young Scot - is used effectively to incentivise young people to adopt responsible consumption behaviours when out socialising with friends.

Future priorities

5.16 This plan retains the focus on promoting the cultural shift away from excessive drinking and helping more Scots to adopt a responsible approach to alcohol. It also recognises the blurring of traditional age boundaries and the need to focus preventative work at social groups other than young people. These aims will be achieved by:

Generally

• implementing a communications strategy which questions the role peer pressure plays in terms of influencing consumption behaviours; and promotes positive lifestyles and choices in a relevant, appealing and creative way;
• ensuring that people have access to information, support and advice that might be required to help them make and sustain healthy choices; and

In schools, workplaces and the community

• challenging the cultural acceptability of excessive drinking, by focussing attention on the short and long-term consequences of going beyond recommended consumption limits and focusing on activities which are incompatible with drinking alcohol, such as driving;
• engaging with young people to help them identify solutions to drinking problems;
• working with the Scottish media to challenge stereotypes, promote responsible drinking and provide a more balanced portrayal of alcohol and alcohol problems;
• fostering social and working environments which support healthy choices;
• promoting healthy attitudes to alcohol amongst young people through every school in Scotland participating in delivering Integrated Children's Services by 2007;
• supporting the development of 3rd party voices that cultivate the alliance for change and who challenge Scotland's damaging alcohol culture; and

In licensed premises

• working with the alcohol industry and licensed trade to tackle the irresponsible promotions which can encourage excessive drinking and to curb the blight of anti-social behaviour often associated with the irresponsible consumption of alcohol.

Specific actions:

General information and communication

9. We will complete a national suite of publications on the short and long-term consequences of drinking alcohol by mid 2007. This will include information on the health risks associated with excessive drinking, alcohol and the law and recognising alcohol problems in yourself and others.

10. We will extend successful measures from the AERC funded culture change pilot in Glasgow to other areas of Scotland by December 2007.

11. We will continue to work with partners to implement a national communication strategy to tackle alcohol problems and promote healthy living in Scotland, as part of wider health improvement communications activity. This will include action to promote responsible drinking; challenge societal attitudes towards the consumption of alcohol; question the responsibility individuals have in terms of influencing consumption behaviours both for themselves and their friends; highlight the stigma experienced by people with alcohol problems and their families; target adults who purchase alcohol for under 18s; develop messaging highlighting it is never too late for intervention and recovery; and raise awareness of the risks associated with heavy drinking ( e.g. accidents, fighting, assault, unsafe sex, mental ill-health, suicide).

12. We will publish an annual programme of work setting out the aims and objectives of national communications work for the coming operational year and how this will link with local communications activity. The strategy will set out how Executive action will integrate with local ADATs and the communications activity of NHSHS, SDF, AFS and the Drinkaware Trust.

13. We will work with partners across the UK to consider the best available research evidence about the relationship between drinking, smoking and drug use by young people and use this learning in our approach to future prevention, education and communications activity.

14. We will continue to provide publicity support for drink driving enforcement campaigns undertaken by Scotland's police forces through the Scottish Road Safety Campaign, and seek ways of better integrating these critical safety messages within our broader alcohol communications strategy.

In schools, workplaces and the community

15. We will use the Executive commissioned evaluation of effectiveness of drugs education in Scottish schools to develop an alcohol education programme as part of a wider, robust substance misuse education programme for schools.

16. We will continue to promote the development of Youth CAFEs and other diversionary initiatives for young people, for the duration of this plan.

17. We will work with the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to provide guidance to employers on developing and implementing effective alcohol policies.

18. We will pilot a media literacy programme in schools to help young people critically appraise information from different media sources; and this work will be taken forward as part of the overall response to the research findings on substance misuse education programmes delivered in the school setting.

19. We will work with representatives of Scottish retailers in order to explore how we can ensure the responsible marketing of alcohol in the off-sales environment.

20. We will develop a partnership with the alcohol industry and the licensed trade that addresses public health concerns by jointly promoting responsible drinking messages.

21. We will fund SHAAP; a recently established group that will raise awareness and understanding of alcohol problems with practitioners, policy makers and the public; identify and promote interventions and solutions based upon best evidence; and disseminate information on alcohol harm to health.

22. We will work alongside Young Scot and NHSHS to explore how the Young Scot membership can support and inform the development of communications activity at national and local level; and how the national entitlement card - sponsored by Young Scot - might be used to support culture change activities to tackle the issue of excessive drinking among young people.

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