Under-18s can help solve drink issues

Under-18s and their parents can make the greatest contribution in combating underage drinking, a new consultation on test purchase operations has said.

The consultation, run by the Local Better Regulation Office, aims to simplify the regulations around age-restricted products, such as alcohol, and provide a consistent approach to test purchasing. Responses will help shape a new code of practice on test purchasing.

"The greatest contribution to meeting the objectives of legislative controls can be made by children and young people themselves and by their parents and others who have a responsibility for educating and caring for them," the consultation said.

"High-street businesses are at the frontline of restricting retail access, but cannot solve the wider problems of young people accessing these products and services."

The consultation recognised that "retail outlets are not the major sources of alcohol for children, and that access to alcohol through retailers is declining"; it quotes research from 2009, that revealed that 54% of underage drinkers obtain their alcohol from family and friends, 14% from shops, 16% from pubs and 13% via proxy purchases.

Under the new code of practice, set for release in the autumn, pubs that carry out their own test-purchase operations could be subject to fewer test purchase sting operations — as revealed earlier this year by the Publican's Morning Advertiser.

They could be "given the opportunity by enforcers to address issues using their own compliance management systems, where those systems have been demonstrated to be effective".

Local authorities will be asked to "take a risk-based approach that recognises businesses' compliance systems and work with them" as well as promoting a clear, consistent and transparent message, and be compelled to inform operators of both successful and failed test purchases within a set time.

The consultation also suggests distinguishing between the two different types of test-purchase operations — those used to gather information to diagnose a problem and those used to gather evidence in response to complaints that will result in immediate sanctions.

The consultation can be found at www.lbro.org.uk/docs/age-restricted-products-consultation.pdf