Fighting alcohol abuse

Drinking habits of young people in Dorset are to come under scrutiny in a major review into alcohol abuse.

A panel of councillors has been tasked with heading the review, which will seek help from youngsters themselves to get to the root of the problem.

The panel is aiming to gauge the full extent of alcohol misuse among youngsters in the county and then work with expert groups and youths to get a better understanding of the causes.

It will then attempt to come up with a set of measures to tackle the principal issues, which will be presented to the Dorset Health Scrutiny Committee in May next year.

The review is a county-wide initiative with the panel made up of councillors from Dorset's county, borough and district councils and involvement also coming from the Dorset Primary Care Trust, Dorset Police and Dorset County Council's children's services department.

Dorset County Council's health partnerships officer Lucy Johns said: "The government has identified tackling alcohol misuse as a public health priority.

"As a nation we are drinking more and more and there is concern that use by people under 18 exposes them to all sorts of risks.

"The Health Scrutiny Committee is very concerned about what extent this is happening in Dorset."

The panel will be working with the Dorset Youth Council to get the views of the younger generation and is also hoping to get other teenagers involved.

Miss Johns said: "We will be wanting to hear the experiences and talk to young people more widely.

"The key thing the panel want to focus on is how to make a difference. Their role is to find out where they can make a real impact and effect real change."

Health Scrutiny Committee chairman Ronald Coatsworth added: "Alcohol misuse by young people is both a national and a local problem.

"At every level we must do all we can to equip young people with the facts they need so that they can make the right choices.

"This review will hopefully give us the information we need to guide our future generations."

This is Dorset