Updated Local Alcohol Profiles for England

Yesterday, Public Health England released the latest update to their Local Alcohol Profiles for England. In addition to information on alcohol-related mortality, hospital admissions and treatment, this version includes new data on both alcohol sales and numbers of licensed premises. The headline figures show that around three quarters of the population drink within the revised low risk alcohol guidelines of 14 units a week.  16.5% of drinkers binged on their heaviest drinking day in the previous week – with ‘binge’ defined as drinking over 6 units (for women) or 8 units (for men) in one session. 15.5% of the population reported not drinking at all. Beyond these headlines, however, the inclusion of new local data on sales and outlet density marks an important development for the LAPE. Rather than relying on estimates drawn from national surveys, PHE have purchased data from two commercial companies: CGA Strategy and Nielsen. The use of these sources is explained in detail here. This development has allowed PHE to produce more precise estimates than previously. As is well-known, survey data only accounts for about half of the alcohol that is purchased, so sales figures give a much more comprehensive picture (although they don’t tell us about who is doing the purchasing or patterns of consumption). Similarly, local authority licensing data can be unreliable and hard to access so the CGA national database of on- and off-trade premises is a useful resource. Vol...
Source: Alcohol Research UK - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: News Source Type: news