Policy Development and Partnerships

We partner with government departments, civic organisations and the media to encourage stakeholder endorsement of responsible drinking and our efforts to change attitudes and reduce alcohol misuse. These efforts are more effective where an appropriate legislative framework is in place. Such a system of national policy on alcohol clarifies the issues and may address systemic problems, allowing our initiatives to be more effective. For example, efforts to discourage drink-driving can yield greater benefits in a country where clear laws are properly enforced.

We support governments in setting alcohol policy frameworks. In many African countries, including Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, we supported policy development, involving government ministries, NGOs, civil society and our industry in a transparent process mediated by the International Centre for Alcohol Policy (ICAP).

We work to encourage the adoption of marketing codes across our industry. For example, through the Beer Sectoral Group in Nigeria, we helped develop a harmonised code that all member companies have adopted.

This year we participated in consultations with the World Health Organisation on ways in which our industry could contribute to reducing the harmful use of alcohol. The contact, which was both direct - along with other companies - and through the Global Alcohol Producers Group, formed part of a consultation by WHO for the development of its Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol. We made a number of constructive suggestions on the actions our industry is currently taking and could additionally take to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and expressed our commitment to work with public health bodies that share our outlook.

We believe in engaging with the medical profession on alcohol issues to raise awareness among clinicians and patients. In France, our business Moët Hennessy Diageo, with medical experts, devised a training programme for doctors on the social and clinical aspects of alcohol. Questionnaires given before and after the training showed that the programme had increased doctors' knowledge of alcoholism and other issues.

Diageo was the first alcohol beverage company in the USA to support the training of doctors in screening and brief intervention (SBI) techniques to reduce hazardous drinking among their patients. The Medical Society of the State of New York found that, after SBI training, 88% of its members planned to screen their patients for alcohol misuse compared with 62% before. To encourage the wider use of SBI techniques, this year we financed the training of other front-line clinicians nationally by the Institute for Continuing Healthcare Education.

We remain committed to the charitable organisation the Drinkaware Trust in the UK and contribute to its funding. A true social marketing partnership between the beverage alcohol industry and civil society, the Drinkaware trustees include representatives of producers and retailers as well as health professionals and lay people. The Trust plays a significant role in the public debate and in changing attitudes to alcohol.

Social aspects organisations

Over the years, we have helped establish many social aspects organisations (SAOs). These are industry-funded bodies that tackle alcohol misuse and promote responsible drinking. To find out more about Diageo's membership of social aspect organisations, please see the Corporate Citizenship Report 2009.