Concerns were raised about the level of alcohol and substance abuse among children and young people in Bradford at a meeting at City Hall tonight.

Members of the Young People and Education Improvement Committee scrutinised the issues of infant mortality, oral health, obesity, teenage pregnancy and sexual health, tobacco and substance and alcohol misuse.

Information gathered will be used as part of an on-going inquiry into child health issues.

Councillor Zameer Shah (Con, Bowling and Barkerend) said of alcohol and substance misuse: “The groups young people are socialising with are causing this and they don’t want to change because they see it as the norm.

“In certain areas people will be going out late and drinking every night.”

Councillor Carol Beardmore (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said parents need to be aware of the harm that can be done by buying alcohol for their teenage children.

“Parents say they buy the alcohol in their weekly shop,” she said.

“If they (young people) drink that much, two or three years down the line what is the impact on their personal health?

“They are basically encouraging them to become alcoholics and the parents are horrified by that.

“How can we bridge that gap?”

According to figures presented to the committee, in the year 2008 to 2009 there were 101 referrals into young people’s specialist treatment.

Recorded opiate use has dropped 23 per cent in the past year and there has been a 58 per cent drop in cannabis use.

Linda Peacock, Bradford’s children and young person’s commissioning manager for substance misuse, told the meeting that serious drug use by young people has stabilised in recent years with a shift away from class A substances, but there has been an increase in alcohol use among young people.

She said: “Our services are very good – among the best in the region.”

Responding to the group’s concerns she said: “Licensing have done a lot of work on proxy sales – buying alcohol for a young person is a crime.

“And where possible, we try and get the family involved.

“We recognise that if young people have parents using drugs and alcohol, they have a greater need. There is a preventative element as well.”