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Drinkaware's Derek Lewis to head up Community Alcohol Partnerships scheme

Published:  28 March, 2014

Derek Lewis, the former head of Drinkaware, has been appointed chair of the Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAP)scheme as it hopes to ramp up its impact in troubled drinking areas of the UK.

 

 

Derek Lewis, the former head of Drinkaware, has been appointed chair of the Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAP) scheme as it hopes to ramp up its impact in troubled drinking areas of the UK. 

CAP brings together local retailers and licensees, Trading Standards, the police, health services, education providers and other local stakeholders to tackle the problem of underage drinking and associated anti-social behaviour in difficult areas of the country.

There are now 60 CAPs in place across the UK, but Lewis' appointment marks what it is calling a "rapid extension of its reach into many more communities where underage drinking is a problem".

Lewis' first target will be to agree with the CAP board a three year business plan designed to extend its reach across the country with a significant increase in the number of CAP schemes nationally. The CAP scheme is part of the government's alcohol health strategy to work closely with proven, locally tailored, partnership schemes such as its recently announced Local Alcohol Action Areas.

CAP

Lewis was Drinkaware's chairman between 2008 and 2014 and has also held senior executive roles across the health, criminal justice, education, training and employability sectors.

The outoing chairman Baroness Newlove, who has held the role for the CAP's first three years, said: "It has been a privilege to lead the Community Alcohol Partnerships programme. In that time, CAP has become an established and proven solution to reducing underage drinking and associated harm to local communities. Derek Lewis is well qualified to lead the growth of CAP at this exciting time and I wish him every success in this important role."

Lewis said: "I am very much looking to working with the CAP board to oversee the next phase in the development of this impressive and important initiative. Collaborative working between a wide range of local stakeholders with a clear focus on shared aims and objectives is at the heart of the success of CAP. I want to help CAP to build on its impressive track record and harness its full potential to improve communities up and down the country that are blighted by underage drinking and its consequences."

Miles Beale, Chief Executive of CAP said: "I am delighted that Derek Lewis will join CAP at this crucial moment in its development. His experience and knowledge will be vitally useful in shaping CAP's future plans and ambitions. CAP has proven highly successful and has been ahead of its time by delivering local, tailored solutions delivered by empowered and supported community partners. CAP is already working with Local Alcohol Action Areas and continues to work to support other areas of the UK where there is evidence of an underage drinking problem, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."

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