Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Friday 3 October 2008

That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Friday 3 October 2008 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

This report introduces the North Yorkshire and York Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy 2008-2011 for discussion.

Members considered a report which introduces the North Yorkshire and York Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy 2008-2011 for discussion. In approving the minutes from the June Gambling and Licensing Act Committee Members asked for the strategy document to be circulated and requested further information regarding the performance of the PCTs alcohol  treatment services.

A document titled North Yorkshire Local Area Agreement 2008/11 Relevant Alcohol Indicators was circulated to Members. The document showed that a number of authorities were collating information, but York was not listed. Members queried why York was not providing such figures. Officers advised that it depends on data collection methods and the various emergency services passing on their data

Jane Mowatt from the Safer York Partnership attended the meeting to provide Members with information on alcohol issues specific to York. She advised Members that the national indicator related to hospital admissions for alcohol harm, not just Accident and Emergency admissions for alcohol related injuries on a Friday and Saturday night. She advised that currently there is no system in place at York Hospital to monitor and collate alcohol related admissions. The following difficulties were highlighted:

Ø      Accident and Emergency records do not record if an injury was sustained whilst the individual was under the influence of alcohol. They record details of the injury only.

Ø      In some cases it is dependant on the individual informing staff they were under the influence when an injury was sustained.

Ø      York Hospitals Accident and Emergency department is extremely busy and if it began to collate figures on alcohol related admissions it would need to be taken into account that many individuals admitted would not be York people. Visitors to the city and referrals from Leeds and other towns and cities would account for a significant number of alcohol related admissions to York Hospital.

John Lacy, in attendance as a representative from Night Safe York advised that the Ambulance Service currently does not pass on any details to interested parties about where they are picking up people who are injured due to being under the influence of alcohol or suffering from the effects of too much alcohol. He advised that Night Safe are interested in obtaining data for domestic incidents as the trend for drinking at home rises.

Members queried why Cities such as Nottingham are able to produce accurate figures. Officers advised that as Nottingham has issues with gun crime there is more pressure and funding from Government for Nottingham to produce statistics.

Members expressed concern that this is a National Indicator that York is not collecting data for and suggested that Scrutiny look into the matter. Members agreed they would like to see a Scrutiny report into why no figures are available for York and would like to see progress towards some baseline figures being produced. Members noted that on page 17 of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) are required to produce a partnership plan for the area which sets out a strategy for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.