Portman Group chief Henry Ashworth calls for Best Bar None and Purple Flag to target more problem areas

Speaking at seminar about the Government’s Alcohol Strategy at the Westminster Social Policy Forum, Ashworth said that if the trade wants to take the responsibility deal forward at a national level, it needs to look at how such initiatives can be more coordinated.

He said: “If we talk about taking the responsibility deal forward as a national framework, then one the things we need to do is look at the huge variations we see across the country.”

Ashworth explained that alcohol misuse is higher in some areas, such as Blackpool, compared with other areas.

He added: “The responsibility deal at a national level has pledged to grow funding from industry and support for these important local initiatives (such as Best Bar None, Purple Flag) that have been shown to work. I think the key about taking this forward is that we have to get more coordination.

“So quite rightly these different initiatives are run by different organisations, but the overlap between them isn’t as good as it should be. Are they as well targeted to those local areas that really need them where the harms of alcohol misuse is most prevalent?

"So one of the things I want to say is that the industry has a suite of initiatives whether it’s Challenge 21 or Challenge 25, where industry are effective partners and important partners and what we need to do is try coordinate and target those initiatives so that they are available to the champions of the local level.”

Ashworth also said the trade “well on its way” to meeting the labelling committment which saw companies pledge to get 80% of alcohol on shelves with drinking guideline information on the labels by 2013. He added that the

Portman group will carry out an independent evaluation on this in 2013.