The launch took place at the YMCA in Plymouth and was attended by key partners including Devon and Cornwall Police, Plymouth Argyle Community Trust, Plymouth Community Homes, Plymouth City Council and a range of other schools, charities and community groups.

Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAPs) are made up of partnerships between local authorities, police, schools, retailers, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to highlight the risks of underage drinking and improve the health and wellbeing of local children and young people.

This is the first CAP to launch in Devon and Cornwall since 2015.

The Plymouth CAP will work with youth services and local organisations to provide alcohol-free activities for young people. It will also work with local schools to educate young people about underage drinking and ensure that they are equipped to make the right decisions about issues such as alcohol and drugs and anti-social and criminal behaviour.

Working with local retailers, CAP aims to help them avoid making underage sales and reduce ‘proxy’ sales where adults buy alcohol for under-18s.

Partners in the Plymouth CAP include:

• Plymouth Argyle
• Trading Standards
• Tesco
• YMCA
• Discovery College
• SHARP Young People Drug and Alcohol Service
• Plymouth City Council
• Devon & Cornwall Police
• Plymouth Community Homes
• All Saints Academy
• The Zone

Councillor Jemima Laing, Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “It’s brilliant to see this new partnership launching in Plymouth, which will help to educate local young people about the risks of underage drinking and improve their health and wellbeing. This supports one of our key priorities as a Council which is to keep children and communities safe. Our Community Youth Team will be working closely with the partners to take a joint approach to reducing alcohol-related harm across the city and we look forward to seeing the benefits of this new CAP scheme.”

Derek Lewis, Chair of CAP comments:

"I am always pleased to see the launch of new partnerships. We know from research that underage drinking can lead to many social and educational problems for children and young people. We also know from our evaluations that CAPs are having a significant impact on reducing alcohol consumption amongst 13- and 16-year-olds in the areas in which they operate. Local CAP schemes are established and run by people from a variety of organisations within their communities, including retailers, local authorities, police forces and schools to identify and tackle the problems associated with underage drinking. All CAPs are tailored to the needs of their local community which means that they are highly effective in getting to the root cause of the problem."