Huge rise in child drinking revealed by NHS

The Telegraph
Aug. 31, 2005

The number of children buying alcohol illegally in shops and pubs is rising and the amount children drink in a week has doubled in 15 years, an NHS survey shows.

Campaigners fear that the problem can only worsen as thousands of licensed premises apply for extended hours under the Government's relaxation of the law.

They predict a rise in binge-drinking among teenagers and a growth in the problem of noisy and violent town centres on Friday and Saturday nights.

The annual survey of drinking, drug taking and smoking among 11- to 15-year-olds showed that little progress was made last year in stemming damaging habits. It also showed that girls were catching up with boys in their drinking habits.

Researchers found that, of those who had had alcohol in the previous week, 50 per cent of girls said they had been drunk, compared with 42 per cent of boys.

They found that 23 per cent of children were drinking regularly, a fall of only two percentage points on 2003. In 1992 only about 17 per cent of children said they had drunk alcohol in the previous week.

The children who drank were drinking more. In 1990, on average, children had drunk six units in the previous week: equivalent to six pub measures of spirit or six half pints of ordinary strength beer. The figure had risen to nearly 11 units by last year. Among girls it went up from 4.5 units to more than 10.

The survey, Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England in 2004, is issued by the NHS health and social care information centre. It was conducted in 313 state and private schools and more than 9,700 children took part.

Nine per cent of children interviewed said they had bought alcohol from a pub or bar and 12 per cent said they had been able to buy it from a shop. In 2002 the figures were six per cent and 10 per cent respectively. In the youngest age group - 11- to 13-year-olds - 57 per cent succeeded in buying alcohol from a shop and 64 per cent had managed to do so from a pub.

At the age of 15, 73 per cent of teenagers had been able to buy alcohol from a shop and 87 per cent from a pub.

Theresa May, the Conservatives' spokesman on the family, said: "These shocking figures prove that binge-drinking will only get worse, as youngsters are drinking more and starting earlier.

"We are laying the foundations for a generation weaned on alcohol.

"Under the new laws, huge numbers of supermarkets, which tend to be a magnet for children who want to buy alcohol, have applied for round-the-clock licences.

"It is absolute madness for the Government to press ahead when all the evidence shows that we are on the verge of an explosion of drinking."

Alcohol Concern said: "The particularly striking increase in the amount of alcohol that girls are drinking underlines how gender differences in drinking behaviour are being eroded.

"Drunkenness has not just become acceptable among young women but is seen as desirable and even necessary for a good evening out.

"The marketing of booze-based lifestyles by the drinks industry and through the media has undoubtedly fed this. A more sustained effort to reduce under-age drinking and to get a grip on alcohol education in schools is urgently required by the Government."

Steve Webb, of the Liberal Democrats, said the figures were further evidence of the Government's failure to tackle the binge-drinking culture.

"Parents need to take some responsibility for their children's health and safety," he said. "Young people often end up drinking because there is nothing for them to do in the evenings and at the weekend."

Caroline Flint, the public health minister, said the fall of two percentage points in overall children's drinking was a "step in the right direction" but the Government was aware there was more to do.

"The alcohol harm reduction strategy for England requires all future alcohol education in schools to address attitudes and behaviour, as well as providing information," she said.

"Government will work with the drinks industry to develop a social responsibility scheme for alcohol producers and retailers to protect young people by checking identification and refusing to sell alcohol to people who are under 18."

The survey also found that 10 per cent of girls and seven per cent of boys were regular smokers, about the same as in the previous year.

Eleven per cent of schoolchildren had used cannabis last year, down from 13 per cent in 2001 to 2003.