The long-awaited Alcohol and Licensing Strategy has been published by the Chief Minister’s department in a consultation starting today and running to 24 March. The strategy seeks to modernise the existing rules about the sale of alcohol and the regulations for licensed premises, as well as reducing the damage to Islanders caused by alcohol abuse.
It suggests that the police should be given powers to close pubs that break their licence conditions, that pubs could be forced to put their staff through proper training and that extended licensing hours should be considered. But it passes the main questions to a new policy group that will be led by the Chief Minister, and which will include the ministers responsible for health, the police and the economy.
Statistics contained in the consultation report suggest that Jersey has a serious drink problem – adult Islanders drink some 12.8 litres of alcohol per year, a figure that is significantly higher than the European average of 11 litres. Figures from 2010 showed that there were 2,065 hospital admissions per 100,000 attributable to alcohol here, compared to 1,898 in the UK – the cost to the Jersey taxpayer of alcohol-related hospital admissions was put at £2 million per year.
Pub landlords have been hoping for some kind of shift in the balance between the on- and off-licensed trade. More and more shops have been given licenses to sell alcoholic drinks in recent years, and they have not been included in the ban on pubs running pricing discounts and promotions.
The full consultation document is available at http://www.gov.je/Government/Consultations/Pages/AlcoholandlicensingstrategyforJersey.aspx
