§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on under-age drinking. [90960]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthA number of legislative measures are in place to help tackle under-age drinking. The Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 made it an offence for any person to sell alcohol to a person under 18 on licensed premises, or knowingly to allow another person to do so. It also created the offence of buying, or attempting to buy, alcohol on licensed premises on behalf of a person under 18. Measures in the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 provided the police and local authorities with increased powers to tackle under-age drinking, including for example, measures to make it easier for local authorities to designate areas where restrictions on anti-social drinking will apply. It also created a positive duty on licensees and their staff not to sell alcohol to under 18s.
The Licensing Bill currently in the House of Lords contains proposals to amend the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to reinstate the police power to
Current members of the EMBF Ms Yvonne Thompson1 Ms Maxine James Mr. Leslie Fairclough Mrs. Jaswin MacDonald Ms Adeeba Malik Mr. Michael Davis-Bingham Mr. Tony Sealey Sir Gulam Noon MBE Mr. Numan Azmi Mr. Kam Kothia Professor Monder Ram Miss Mai Sim Lei Mr. Niyazi Enver Mr. Askar Sheibani Mrs. Rita Patel Dr. Haider Imam Mr. Mohammed Isap Councillor Mohammed Afzal Khan 1Chair Previous members who have served on the EMBF since it was set up in 2002 but who are no longer members are as follows:
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Previous members of the EMBF Ms Jennifer Craig Mr. Pravin Kapadia Mr. Mohammed Nazir Mr. Jeffery Yap Mr. Clyde Williams Mrs. Sukvinder Studds Lord Amir Bhatia OBE — confiscate sealed containers (in addition to opened containers) from young people in public places, where a police officer reasonably believes that the young person is, or has been, or intends to, consume the alcohol in a public place.
In addition, the Home Office, together with other Departments, are working with the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on their study into tackling the harm associated with alcohol misuse. This has involved a public consultation, run jointly with the Department of Health. The project will pay particular attention to issues such as alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour, problems faced by vulnerable groups such as children and what works best in tackling the problems of alcohol misuse.