Agenda and minutes

The Forum received a presentation from Chris Littlejohn on alcohol needs assessment:-

Following the presentation, the Convener noted that the majority of people would consider drugs to be the biggest problem in Grampian, but the statistics showed that alcohol was a much greater problem.  He added that people referred to ‘legal highs’, but that alcohol was the biggest legal high.

The Vice Convener referred to the statistics in the presentation which suggested that education did not work particularly well to reduce alcohol related harm to children.  Chris explained that sometimes, school-based education could worsen the problem as children who knew more about alcohol would use it more.  He added however that where children were at risk already, education would often reduce the risk for these children.  Heather Wilson added that it was important to look at the range of measures and actions available and highlighted that the Curriculum for Excellence focused on building confidence and resilience which was a strong tool to use in reducing harm to children.  Chris agreed and added that the Curriculum for Excellence was a promising way forward, as it did not simply ‘lecture’ children that it was wrong to take alcohol.  The Convener added that ADP had found that simply taking someone who had experienced problems with alcohol into a school did not work particularly well to reduce harm.  Piotr Teodorowski agreed, adding that children and young people reacted more positively when messages were delivered to them by someone of their own age.  Andrew Jones agreed that there was limited impact if someone was simply brought in to speak to the children.  He noted that some of the statistics provided by Chris were extremely helpful and asked if there was teaching information which could made available around these statistics.  He suggested that the data could be used for example in a maths lesson.  The Convener advised that Heather Wilson and Fraser Hoggins had previously worked on an alcohol and drugs set of materials for schools and proposed that this information could be incorporated.  This would mean that schools were not simply conducting lessons on alcohol, but that information could be built into other lessons, such as maths, history, geography etc.

William Christie pointed out that some of the data in the presentation was more up to date than other sections, and Chris added that it was a challenge to keep data up to date.  It was also noted that some of the information came directly from the Inland Revenue, and this had not yet been provided.

Shamini Omnes asked if there was a way to promote the statistics around alcohol, and it was suggested that, for example, in relation to Designated Driver campaigns, the Police might have statistical evidence available on the number of drunk drivers.

Piotr also noted that the statistics for student areas were quite high, and asked if statistics were available for the months when students would not be resident in the area.  Chris advised that he did not have the information,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Dave Bliss explained that Pre Referral Screening (PRS) was now referred to as MAS (Multi Agency Screening), as the original name was felt to be misleading.  He added that the majority of reports for concern would go directly to the named person, but that there was also someone in post to deal with any referrals.  He advised that discussions were ongoing about the data which would be collected around MAS.

Wednesday 2 July - Agenda

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=3411&Ver=4

Tuesday 19  August – Agenda

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=3051&Ver=4

The Forum had been provided with details of the last two Licensing Board agendas for information.