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Alcoholic Drinks: Young People

Answer

[holding answer 21 January 2008]: The following table provides information on prosecutions and convictions for selling alcohol to persons under 18 years, in each of the last five years.In addition to court proceedings, the offence of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 can attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND). The offence was added to the PND scheme on 1 November 2004, and there were 113 penalty notices issued for the offence in November and December of that year. Additionally, another 2,058 penalty notices were issued in 2005 and 3,195 were issued in 2006.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for selling alcohol to under-age customers, England and Wales, 2002 to 2006¹, ², ³
	Proceeded against	Found guilty
2002	170	105
2003	616	419
2004	841	593
2005	1,084	772
2006	1,199	854
¹ These data are provided on the principal offence basis.
² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
³ Covers the offences: Selling etc. intoxicating liquor to person under 18 for consumption on the premises under the Licensing Act 1964 S.169 A and B as added by Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 S.1, Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 1964 S.181 A(1) as added by Licensing Act 1988 S.17, Sale of alcohol to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 2003 S.146 and Allowing Sale of alcohol to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 2003 S.147. Sections 146 and 147 of the 2003 Licensing Act only came into effect from 24 November 2005. The first two offences cannot separately identify on and off premises consumption although both are covered by the statutes.
Sources:
RDS, Court proceedings database
Office for Criminal Justice Reform
Ministry of Justice.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

473 c1247W;473 c1241-2W; 180810

Session

2007-08

Transferred

Yes

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Young people

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk