The Cardiff Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP); two former University of South Wales students and Paul Pugh of the Paul’s Pledge campaign have won national awards for tackling underage drinking.
For Cardiff CAP, Lauren Idowu of Public Health Wales and Ian Tumelty, Business Crime Reduction Manager, Cardiff Against Crime, received the CAP of the Year (Wales) Award from Kate Winstanley, CAP Director, at the annual CAP celebration at the House of Lords on January 29.
Zakk Frost and Shannon Lee, former students at the University of South Wales, shared the CAP Contribution by a Young Person Award, which they received from Aaron Mansfield of the Royal Society for Public Health.
Paul Pugh received the Chairman’s Award from CAP chair Derek Lewis.
Kate Winstanley said: “Cardiff was the first CAP to include 18-25 year olds within the project. The city has a vibrant night-time economy and the CAP works to ensure the safety of these young people, working in partnership to bring together existing initiatives and add value to them. Help points are to be installed across the city and training is currently being delivered to door staff to provide support for vulnerable young people. The CAP also works closely with Cardiff universities to reduce anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related violence and health risks from high levels of intoxication among students.”
Aaron Mansfield said: “Drama students Shannon Lee and Zakk Frost have had a huge impact on schoolchildren throughout Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, delivering fun and interactive awareness sessions through Switched On, an information, education and advice service for anyone under the age of 25 who is concerned about substance misuse.”
Derek Lewis said: ”Paul visits schools, colleges and youth clubs to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of alcohol-fuelled violence. Paul spent two months in a coma after being assaulted in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire when he was on a quiet night out with friends. In 2014 he launched Paul’s Pledge with Dyfed-Powys Police to raise awareness and warn about the effect that such violence can have on individuals and their families. He has made presentations to more than 10,000 young people across South Wales and clearly has a huge impact. I am delighted to present this award to Paul in recognition of his courage, bravery and inspiration.”
Pontardawe CAP and Pontypridd CAP were also highly commended for their work tackling underage drinking by focussing on educating young people and holding local public engagement events.
CAPs are made up of partnerships between retailers, local authorities, police, schools, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to empower communities to tackle alcohol-related harm to young people and improve the quality of life for residents. The CAP 2019 annual report, launched at the House of Lords, shows how this innovative partnership approach has brought significant reductions in alcohol supply to children, alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and underage street drinking.
Evaluations for the period 2015-2019 show:
• 52% average reductions in regular drinking among 13-16 year olds
• 40% reductions in youth alcohol-related anti-social behaviour
• 80% improvement in Challenge 25 compliance following CAP training
• 90% reductions in residents reporting seeing under 18s drinking in the local area
• 77% reduction in young people hanging around shops and asking adults to buy alcohol for them
CAP Chair Derek Lewis added: “Underage drinking is associated with school and educational problems, unprotected sex, consumption of illicit drugs, violence and drinking problems in later life. We have been greatly encouraged to see emerging evidence that CAPs are reducing alcohol consumption by underage children. While the proportion of young people in England who regularly consume alcohol has dropped slowly between 2001 and 2018, the reductions achieved in CAP areas are even greater, with 52% average reductions in regular drinking among 13-16 year olds. We believe that this reflects the increasing emphasis on working with schools within the CAP areas.”
Ends
For media information please contact: Julia Shipston, Communications Manager at CAP: tel: 0771 3163003, email [email protected]
Notes for Editors
The first CAP was set up in St Neots in 2007 and 201 have now been launched across the UK.