The work of the
Government Champion for
Active, Safer Communities
&
the Alcohol Fund
Thursday 3 April 2014
The Government Champion for
Active, Safer Communities
• Baroness Helen Newlove appointed as
Government Champion for Active, Safer
Communities in October 2010.
• Works to support local communities and activists
to address local issues, and identify and
challenge barriers.
• Now based at DCLG with a specific focus on the
impact of underage drinking, binge drinking and
related anti-social behaviour.
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Government Champion
- Work done so far
•
Seven ‘Newlove Neighbourhoods’ worked with across England & Wales over
2011-2012 to kick-start and support community activism.
•
Three reports written:
• Our vision for Safe and Active Communities (Oct 2010)
• Government Progress Update (July 2011)
• Building Safe, Active Communities: Strong foundations by local people
(Feb 2012)
•
Launched the Alcohol Fund with the third report to tackle problem drinking,
with DCLG providing £1m of funding over two years
•
Ongoing support to community activists, through speeches at local, regional
and national events and ongoing media work.
•
Continual investigation into best practice and innovation in the field of tackling
problem drinking and related anti-social behaviour.
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The Alcohol Fund - Objectives
Overall objectives to:
• provide an opportunity for local areas to develop sustainable community-based
approaches to tackle problem drinking and associated issues; and
• test innovative ideas which can be disseminated more widely.
Designated process:
• Partnership working which engages local people was a key aim setting out how
community groups, local residents, local agencies including the police, young
people and retailers would be involved.
• Some, or all, of the money was expected to be allocated through a participatory
budgeting exercise. Local areas were encouraged to clearly identify local
problems and outline their own strategies to deal with them.
Expected Outcomes:
• areas working collaboratively and in partnership with relevant bodies such as the
local authority, police, health and education services, the local community, local
retailers and alcohol industry representatives.
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The Alcohol Fund – Selected projects
Main areas:
• County Durham
• Newcastle
upon Tyne
• Bury
• Wakefield
• Lincoln
• Shropshire
• Birmingham
(Moseley)
• Chelmsford
• Maidstone
• Cornwall
Discrete
Projects
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North Tyneside
Lancaster
St Helen’s
Nottingham
Stoke-on-Trent
Great Yarmouth
London Borough
of Croydon
• Reading
• Horsham
• Exeter
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The Alcohol Fund – Types of work
•
Education & awareness raising (incl. youth education work)
•
Youth work – outreach & diversionary activities
•
Youth work – targeted work for those already with alcohol misuse
issues
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Targeting hardened drinkers / street drinkers
•
Police led operations
•
Responsible retailing of alcohol
•
Night-time economy
•
Community engagement
•
Better use of data / info-sharing
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Contact Details for Baroness Newlove’s Unit
Nageen Haroon
DCLG
PSBaroness.Newlove@communities.gsi.gov.uk
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