UK Department of Health Country Resources Child and Youth Substance Abuse/Alcohol policies/plans/legislations and service standards United Kingdom Policy document

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This Action Plan sets out what the Government will do to address drinking by young people in three main ways:

1) The Department of Health (DH) needs to be clear that unsupervised drinking by young people under 18 in public places, which has the closest links to crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as putting young people at risk in other ways, is unacceptable. This Action Plan sets out how the DH will work with the police and the courts to stop it.

2) Drinking by young people in the home is clearly the responsibility of parents and families,
not the Government. But there are things the DH want to change. The DH believe there is a need for clearer health information for parents and young people about how consumption of alcohol, particularly at an early age, can affect children and young people. That is why they have asked the Chief Medical Officer to produce clear guidelines on the issue. The DH will also ensure that parents who fail to take their responsibility seriously will be made to do so.

3) The DH need industry to play more of a part, not just in refusing to sell alcohol to young people
under the age of 18, but also more generally in marketing and promoting alcohol in a more
responsible way. So they will work with the industry to strengthen the standards that currently govern these issues with a view to making them mandatory.

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