Government postpones youth alcohol strategy at short notice

The youth alcohol action plan was due to be released yesterday (13 May), but has now been put back to June. Last week CYP Now reported the child health strategy, which The Children's Plan stated would be published in the spring, has now been delayed until the autumn (CYP Now, 7-13 May).

A source said a briefing on the youth alcohol action plan for figures in the children's sector due to be held last week was cancelled at short notice. "They were very apologetic and told us that (they wanted) next week's big story to be about education," she said. "They said the plan would be released in June."

At the end of April a report by MPs on the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee said the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) must have clearer targets and timescales if The Children's Plan is to succeed (CYP Now, 23-29 April).

Geethika Jayatilaka, deputy chief executive of 4Children, said The Children's Plan had received a lot of support, which may drift if important strategies were delayed. "If there are delays and people feel there's not as much drive to get it implemented as there was to get it published you can lose momentum quickly and we don't want to see that happen," she said.

However, Jayatilaka added that although the delay was "extremely disappointing", it was important not to lose sight of the end result. She said that although children and young people's organisations want action in different areas of young people's health, including alcohol use, the form that takes would depend on the substance of the action plan.

The Children's Plan was published in December and was billed as the government's way to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up.

A DCSF spokeswoman said the plan was delayed because it had yet to be finished.