Alcohol Referral Course

1.       What alcohol referral courses, if any, are either being run by your force or are in the process of being set up for offenders charged with being drunk and disorderly?
2.       How are these schemes being funded?
3.       Please provide any available costings?
4.       Please detail what offenders receive in return for the attendance on these courses?
5.       If you already have a scheme up and running please provide details of the numbers who attended these courses in the last two financial years?
6.       Are these courses run by the force itself or private companies?
7.       Please list the private companies if the course is not run internally and detail annual payments to them?
8.       Are the courses either running or planned being used/intended to be used as an alternative to bringing offenders before the courts or as an alternative to fixed penalty fines?
9.       Please provide any correspondence between your force and the Home Office on alcohol awareness courses.
10.   Please provide any correspondence between your force and the Crown Prosecution service on alcohol awareness courses.

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Question 1:  Offenders where alcohol is prevalent in the commission of the offence, if they consent will receive a brief intervention from a worker in the custody suite who are commissioned to provide this service. Individuals who are charged with drunk and disorderly would be amongst those receiving brief interventions. 

Question 2:  The scheme is funded by the Safer & Stronger Partnership through Cheshire Drug And Alcohol Action Team (West and East Cheshire) together with Addaction and Pathways to Recovery (Northern.)

Question 3.  No information held.  The schemes are not funded by the police, however the Constabulary allow the workers to be based in the custody suites which would be nominal costs.

Question 4:   Should an offender be charged with drunk and disorderly and attend court they may be assessed for suitability for an Alcohol Treatment Requirement, which is further intervention work.  These are run by Cheshire Probation Service.  

Question 5 There is no information is held, formal course are not run by the Constabulary.

Questions 6 to 10 There is no information held.