The Information Centre for Health and Social Care has today published the full statistics from the annual survey ‘Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2006’, following up from the publication of headline figures in March of this year.
The survey questioned 8,200 school pupils aged between 11 and 15 at 288 schools in England in the autumn term of 2006.
The trends are encouraging, with fewer children reporting that they have used drugs, more children saying they had never drunk alcohol and the number of children who smoked once a week remaining steady.
It is concerning however that while the number of secondary school children who reported drinking alcohol in the last week fell, the amount consumed by those who did drink was on the rise. In 2001 the average weekly consumption of alcohol among the younger pupils surveyed (11 – 13 year olds) was 5.6 units of alcohol. This has risen to 10.1 units in 2006.
One in five secondary school children reported having been drunk in the last four weeks, and one in five reported drinking alcohol in the previous week.
Drug use continued to fall among this age group, with 17 per cent of pupils reporting taking drugs in the last year, down from 20 per cent in 2001. The statistics also reveal that in 2001, 42 per cent of pupils had been offered drugs, yet in 2006, this had dropped to 35 per cent.
Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope, said today:
“We are concerned that the amount of alcohol consumed by 11 to 15 year olds is steadily on the rise, even as the number of young people who are drinking falls. Effective education on the dangers of drug and alcohol misuse is vital but so is support for vulnerable children, young people and their families. We urge the Government to reconsider financial cuts made this year to young people’s drug and alcohol services.”
For more information please contact Ruth Goldsmith in the DrugScope Press Office on 020 7940 7517 (07736 895563 out of hours) or at press@drugscope.org.uk
