Children’s health education charity Life Education is disappointed by Gordon Brown’s response to Sir Liam Donaldson’s recommendation that minimum prices be imposed on alcohol to curb binge drinking.

Professor Donaldson proposed a ban on drinks being sold for less than 50p per alcoholic unit – a move which would particularly affect the sale in supermarkets of strong cheap alcohol such as cider as well as beer, wine and spirits.

Stephen Burgess, National Director of Life Education, comments: “We’ve seen in the past that significant increases in tobacco taxes have led to a marked reduction in use and therefore harm to young people. In contrast, the real price of alcohol is at a historic low. Beers, wines and spirits which would have been unaffordable for the vast majority of teenagers even 20 years ago are now easily within reach of the average young people’s pocket money.1 This is why the government needs to take action now.”

Burgess continues: “It is essential that not only is alcohol made less easily available and accessible to young people but this should only be the start. The long term answer is to improve education, helping children right from primary school age to understand the risks associated with alcohol.  This is the only way to make a lasting impact on the epidemic of alcohol-related illnesses which is already costing the NHS £3 billion a year.

A rise in the cost of alcohol would hit those that drink most hardest and have little effect on responsible drinkers.  Many responsible parents would welcome more tax revenues being spent on education aimed at preventing alcohol misuse.

With 1000 children a year below the age of fourteen being admitted to hospital and Life Education’s own research showing that almost a third of 9-11 year olds thinking binge drinking is normal2, this change can not come soon enough.”

Stephen Burgess, National Director of Life Education is available for comment.

For further information or to arrange to speak to Stephen Burgess, please contact:
Eddi Hamilton on 0207 831 9311 or 07805 632906

Notes to Editors

• 1 In the 1960s a bottle of whisky cost around £3.10s (£3.50) and had to be purchased in an Off Licence. This would have cost half a week’s wages for the average 18 year old. Today, the same teenager can buy a bottle in the supermarket for about £7.00 - double the price but the equivalent of less than 2 hour’s work at the minimum wage.

• 2 Almost a third of children (30%) think that for adults who drink wine, drinking five or more glasses of wine in one night is normal - Life Education Children’s Alchohol Survey June 2008.

 
• Life Education is a registered charity which teaches children about their physical health – healthy eating, how their bodies work and the risks of alcohol and drugs as well as their emotional wellbeing, helping them to understand key issues such as bullying, how to tackle it, how it can affect others. Life Education also introduces ideas about assertive behaviour and resisting peer pressure.
 
• Life Education’s specially-trained educators teach nearly a million children every year in mobile learning centres which visit primary schools across Britain
 
• Life Education’s work has been praised by Ofsted, Sure Start and the DCSF as well as healthcare luminaries such as Lord Robert Winston.

• Research has repeatedly shown (nida.nih.gov) that reaching children early on, at primary school, with vital messages on drug awareness is by far the most effective way of preventing drug use in later life.
 
• Life Education also works with parents in special parenting assembly workshops and other parenting programmes to make sure the messages they teach to children are backed up at home.
 
• Life Education is the largest charity of its kind, building links with local schools, teachers, parents and the wider community promoting personal, social and health education. 

• Life Education was launched in 1987