Memorandum by The Portman Group (WP 56)
1. The Portman Group (TPG) was set up in
1989 by the UK's leading alcohol producers. Its purpose is to
promote sensible drinking; to help prevent alcohol misuse; to
encourage responsible marketing; and to foster a balanced understanding
of alcohol-related issues.
2. TPG welcomes this opportunity to respond
to the Health Committee's inquiry into the Government's Public
Health White Paper. Our response is confined to health issues
relating to alcohol use and misuse. It should be noted that our
activities are restricted to education and prevention. We do not
play a role in the counseling, treatment and rehabilitation of
those with alcohol dependency problems.
3. TPG has a strong shared agenda with Government
to promote responsible drinking choices. We are pleased to note
that the Government intends to work with us in partnership to
deliver consumer information campaigns to tackle binge drinking
amongst young adults. We stand prepared and fully committed to
working with Government and the public health community in doing
so, building on the success of our existing campaigns. Government
endorsement of our new "drinkaware" website (see paragraph
8) would be helpful in helping to publicise the site.
4. In our view, the current proposals are
right as far as they go but there are some omissions and weaknesses.
One weakness relates to education and training for health professionals.
Although we were pleased to note that the White Paper promises
"guidance and training to ensure all health professionals
are able to identify alcohol problems early" the Paper falls
short of recommending a mandatory component of the training received
by all student doctors, nurses and other health professionals,
to cover alcohol-related issues.
5. Another omission relates to the absence
of any proposals for further research into alcohol misuse. It
is our view that Government action on alcohol misuse should be
underpinned by a rolling programme of research in key areas which
in turn should inform and possibly update or amend the sensible
drinking guidelines. We have identified a need for further research
into a number of areas, including the health effects of binge-drinking;
patterns of drinking and breast cancer; and alcohol and the over
65s.
6. The proposals represent value for money
in that there is an implicit expectation that the alcohol industry,
in the form of TPG, should fund the development of public information
campaigns on responsible drinking. We do not, however, think that
it is the responsibility of the industry alone to fund such campaigns.
This would appear to suggest that the industry alone is responsible
for alcohol misuse. Whilst the industry accepts its share of the
responsibility to tackle misuse, we believe there is also a responsibility
for Government and, of course, for individuals themselves.
7. TPG recommends that, in order to achieve
any measurable impact in attitudes/behaviour, the Government should
commit to a high profile communication strategy to promote the
notion of responsible alcohol consumption, using mass media with
financial backing on a par with the current drink drive campaign.
TPG recommends further that there should be a long term Government
commitment to maintaining and developing any such strategy.
8. TPG is working closely with the Home
Office to help develop a social responsibility scheme. In respect
of the White Paper's stated intention that alcohol containers
and adverts should include information reminders about responsible
drinking, TPG's "drinkaware" materials provide a useful
model. The www.drinkaware.co.uk website was launched by TPG on
12 November. It is designed to give consumers helpful information
about alcohol units and information about how the Government's
responsible drinking message relates to their lifestyle and circumstances.
Traffic to the site is averaging around 17,000 hits per day. The
Portman Group has produced a range of promotional material to
alert consumers to the site. Diageo is promoting the website through
their above and below the line advertising; Newcastle Brown Ale,
Carling, WKD and Bacardi Martini feature the website address alongside
responsible drinking messages on product labels. A number of supermarket
chains, including Tesco, Asda and Waitrose are promoting the site
both in store and through direct consumer communications. We expect
a number of companies to promote the site via labels on their
key brands and major retailers and pub and bar chains to promote
the site in the near future.
9. The Home Office deals with the issue
of sales to minors. TPG operates a PASS-accredited proof of age
card. We believe that uptake of our scheme and other PASS accredited
schemes would be greatly helped if the Government could go on
record with a prominent public statement commending the PASS scheme
to retailers.
10. Paragraphs 62 and 63 of the White Paper
relate to Ofcom's new rules on alcohol advertising. Overall, we
were pleased with the revised Code rules following Ofcom's consultation.
The new rules reflect fairly closely the recommendations we made.
February 2005
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