Government to launch under-age drinking clampdown

02 June 2008 by
Government to launch under-age drinking clampdown

The Government has called on the pub trade to hasten its roll-out of the British Beer & Pub Association's (BBPA) Challenge 21 scheme.

The scheme calls on publicans to ID check drinkers who look under the age of 21.

The Youth Alcohol Action Plan, which was unveiled today, encourages the wider use of proof-of-age schemes as well as an increase in voluntary test purchase programmes as part of plans to tackle under-age drinking.

The report also recommends a tighter relationship between the wider drinks industry and the Government to ensure that alcohol is promoted and marketed in a responsible way.

Challenge 21 has existed for more than two years as part of an under-age drinking awareness campaign by the BBPA, and 350,000 posters promoting the scheme have already been delivered to pubs across the UK.

However the Government's Youth Alcohol Action Plan is primarily targeted at stopping under-age drinkers from consuming alcohol in public places.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "If you can't buy alcohol you shouldn't be able to drink it in public either.

"Underage drinking erodes the safety and well being of communities as well as damaging young people's health. It's not right and I am determined to put a stop to it."

For more on the subject see our binge drinking news round-up.

Government must work with us to tackle booze abuse >>

Battle of the binge drinking >>

By Christopher Walon

E-mail your comments to Christopher Walton here.

The Caterer Blog](http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/catering-news-blog/) Catch up with more news and gossip on the Caterer Blog here
[Newsletters For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking