MP praises Southend Council on tackling binge drinking

David Amess, Southend West Conservative MP, has commended the local authority on its approach to curb binge drinking in the area.

Mr Amess told the House of Commons in a speech today of Southend Council’s many measures to combat binge drinking through educational preventative work. He said: “I want to praise Southend council’s measures against excessive indulgence in alcohol by young people.

“In Southend, we have a very strong record of preventive work in encouraging young people not to develop bad habits with regard to alcohol.

“That forms part and parcel of the healthy schools programme, which we deliver in partnership with the primary care trust.

“A high proportion of our schools have received healthy schools accreditation because of the strength of their work in that area.”

The MP bemoaned a lack of funding from central government to help local authorities prevent binge-drinking, particularly amongst young people.

“There seems to be a problem with the funding of our schools generally,” he said.

“A number of our schools are struggling with the funding formula at the moment.

“There is certainly a funding problem in education generally, but putting that aside, Southend council has been proactive in the initiative to deal with alcohol abuse and encourage young people not to go down a particular path.

“Ofsted inspections of schools in Southend comment that a very high proportion deliver outstanding work in encouraging children and young people to be healthy.

“The impact of that work is demonstrated in what young people tell us through the so-called ‘tell us survey’, which indicates that 5% fewer young people in Southend misuse alcohol than is the case nationally.

“The ‘Getting on with the Blues’ project at Southend United football club—the club is starting work on its new stadium, which we hope will be available for various sporting activities during the Olympic games—is an initiative aimed at primary school age children.

“It being very well received and focuses on reducing alcohol misuse and antisocial behaviour, and more than 1,500 pupils have taken part in it. Evaluations of the project have found that most pupils, and all their teachers, rated it as excellent.

‘The SOS bus and alcohol misuse outreach work have responded effectively to alcohol misuse by young people, and the alcohol misuse outreach worker has been effective in reducing reoffending and alcohol use by young people.

 “Over the past 18 months, the work of our drugs and alcohol action team has strengthened further, and its work in supporting young people who need support and treatment because of alcohol abuse is now very effective.

 “We also have further programmes to launch, so I hope that the Government are pleased with what Southend is doing in that respect.”