Underage stings here to stay
There will be no end to underage sting campaigns - that's the news from Home Office minister Vernon Coaker.
In an exclusive one-to-one with the Morning Advertiser, Coaker announced his determination to totally stamp out underage sales and said he "could not see a point" when under-age sting operations would end.
We don't regard any breaking of the law as acceptableHome Office minister Vernon Coaker.
"The target rate for any Government has to be zero [failure-rate]," he said. "We don't regard any breaking of the law as acceptable."
Coaker, one of the chief architects behind the National Alcohol Strategy, stressed that although partnership with the trade was vital in beating underage sales, there also had to be enforcement.
"It is to protect the whole industry where there are people who aren't doing what everybody else is doing," he said. "It is not under the pretence of undermining good practice; it is about supporting good practice. The thing I am pleased about is the industry itself wants the problem premises targeted because they know they tarnish the name of others."
Shocking statistics revealed that in 2006, only five fixedpenalty notices across the whole country were handed out to under-18s for attempting to buy alcohol - a figure unlikely to change this year.
"It is the responsibility of business to enforce the law. We see that as the way it should be and what we will do is to continue through other measures such as education, and trying to change the culture to deal with the underage drinking and the responsibility of the individual."
The MP praised progress made by the pub industry, and in particular Best Bar None, Pubwatch and Challenge-21, but warned Alcohol Disorder Zones (ADZs) were still on the agenda. The controversial policy, where licensed premises would be forced to pay a levy towards policing and street cleaning, is widely believed to have been a knee-jerk Government reaction to the furore caused by the Daily Mail over extended opening hours.
"We are talking to the industry and the police but, you know, they are on their way," he said.
Read or listen to the full interview at www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/coaker
Cheap supermarket booze
To many observers, the Government's National Alcohol Strategy represented a shift in focus emphasising the need for the off-trade to clean up its act. Coaker said cheap supermarket booze, often sold below cost, was on the agenda for the independent review of the relationship between alcohol, price, promotion and harm to consider.
"We have set up the review to get evidence on what the link is between price and consumption, and between promotions and consumption, and what impact it has, so that if we do anything we have some evidential base," he said.
However, it will have to tread carefully because of competition laws.
"We don't want to pre-judge the outcome, but we need to look at what it tells us about discounted prices and promotions and talk to the industry. Our expectation is that if it demonstrates there is an issue, we will talk to them about what we are going to do about it."
Glass bans
The MA scored a notable victory when the National Alcohol Strategy was released - it confirmed that the Government was against the current police enthusiasm to enforce a blanket switch to polycarbonates.
Coaker said: "With respect to the use of plastic glasses, we have made it clear that this is a matter for police and individual premises. We don't see blanket [glass] bans necessarily as the way forward. It is just a matter of where there is a problem premises we expect it to be dealt with there, rather than [implementing] blanket bans."
More than 2,600 people have now signed the MA's petition to the Prime Minister opposing blanket glass-bans. Visit http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/plasticglass/ to sign.
In addition 46 MPs have put their name to an Early Day Motion against blanket bans, drafted by the MA and submitted by Parliamentary Beer Group chairman John Grogan.
Coaker on...
The on-trade: "I think the management of the whole sector has improved significantly. We are pleased with the progress that has been made."
Partnership: "The partnership approach is the way forward and we don't want to regulate. We want to achieve even more through collaboration and co-operation and working together."
Legislation: "The whole Government view is that we want to achieve the best possible standards we can through voluntary agreements. We don't want to go down the route of regulation."
Serving drunks: "We know there are still one or two issues. If I raise one, it is about what we are going to do about serving someone who is drunk."
Local alcohol harm reduction strategies:
"A student city, for example, may have a different alcohol harm reduction strategy than if you are in a rural area. Local flexibility within a national framework. The trade has to be involved."
