Speaking at the BBN Practitioners’ Conference in Ipswich, Robertson announced that additional support had been made available for new and existing initiatives across the UK, including additional funding for the new BBN Buddy Scheme, and BBN’s helpline.
With the aid of its four key sponsors — Molson Coors, Bacardi Brown-Forman Brands, Diageo GB and Heineken UK — the new Buddy Scheme will encourage members of existing BBN schemes to give best practice advice and other support to new schemes.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the sponsors would contribute a total of £500,000 over three years to BBN.
Robertson believes the Buddy Scheme will ensure the continued success of BBN, while additional funding will allow it to make better representations to the Government on alcohol-related health issues.
He said: “They will help people who are setting up schemes to not make the same mistakes as others, and help them take more confident strides going forward.
“Licensees are quite good at offering help in this regard, and some of the people who run BBN initiatives often need help when approaching the Government.”
He added a large part of the funding will go towards collecting three types of data: on alcohol-related hospital admissions, alcohol-related crime and turnover in pubs.
“This proves to the Government that if you want to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions, you don’t need to come up with silly strategies.
“Schemes like BBN can be just as effective.”
The BBN’s Most Innovative Scheme Award for 2011 was won by Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, fighting off competition from both Sheffield and Nottingham.