Figures expose youth drink problem

12 April 2012

Around 2,500 under-14s are admitted to hospital each year because of the effects of alcohol.

Analysis of hospital admission figures showed that more than 23,000 under-14s needed in-patient care in the last nine years. It also emerged that more than 1,500 pupils were expelled in just three years for drug or alcohol-related reasons.

The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the figures, said they were evidence of an "escalating public health crisis".

It came on the eve of the Government's new alcohol strategy, which aims to cut binge-drinking among teenagers and young people.

Hospital Episode Statistics showed that 23,411 under-14s were admitted for inpatient care because of the effects of alcohol between 1998-99 and 2006-07. Of those, 4,731 were admitted because of the "toxic effect of alcohol", 18,676 because of "mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol", and four with alcoholic liver disease.

While the figure for the toxic effect has dropped considerably - from 694 in 1998-99 to 288 in 2006-07, the mental and behavioural disorders statistic has risen from 1,657 to 2,120 in the same period.

Meanwhile, figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families revealed that 1,530 pupils had been permanently excluded for drug or alcohol reasons between 2003-4 and 2005-6 - the latest period for which statistics are available. At the same time, 31,710 pupils were temporarily excluded for the same reasons, though both sets of figures fell year-on-year.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said action was needed to prevent creating a generation which had "permanently gone off the rails". And he said his party would change the law so that anyone caught selling alcohol to children have their licence revoked at first offence.

Meanwhile, in moves to be unveiled as part of a raft of measures designed to curb binge-drinking among teenagers and children, parents who fail to stop their children drinking in public could face court action.

Youths who regularly drink alcohol in public will be committing an offence under new legislation. Police will also be handed tougher powers to disperse gangs of youngsters congregating in the street and other popular hangouts like parks and bus shelters.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in