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The purpose of this paper is to explore how substance use practitioners intervene with ethnically and culturally diverse groups of young people in contact with the youth justice system.

Telephone, face-to-face interviews and a focus group were conducted. Data were analysed thematically using a frame-reflective theoretical approach.

Practitioners tended to offer individualised interventions to young people in place of culturally specific approaches partly due to a lack of knowledge, training or understanding of diverse cultural needs, and for practical and resource reasons.

Practitioners reject the official narrative of BAME youth in the justice system as dangerous and in need of control, viewing them instead as vulnerable and in need of support, but report they lack experience, and sufficient resources, in delivering interventions to diverse groups.

There is little information regarding how practitioners respond to diversity in their daily practice. This paper is an exploration of how diversity is framed and responded to in the context of youth substance use and criminal justice.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Public Health in licensing following The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, which added ‘health bodies’ as responsible authorities in licensing; in practice, Directors of Public Health undertook this role in England. Despite this legislation facilitating the inclusion of public health in partnerships around licensing, wide variations in involvement levels by public health professionals persist.

This paper is based on the findings from interviews that explored the experiences of public health professionals engaging with local established partnerships around alcohol licensing. Qualitative data were collected through 21 interviews in a purposeful sample of London boroughs. These data were combined with analyses of relevant area documentation and observations of 14 licensing sub-committee meetings in one London borough over a seven-month period. Thematic analysis of all data sources was conducted to identify emerging themes.

This study highlighted the importance of successful navigation of the “contested space” (Hunter and Perkins, 2014) surrounding both public health practice and licensing partnerships. In some instances, contested spaces were successfully negotiated and public health departments achieved an increased level of participation within the partnership. Ultimately, improvements in engagement levels of public health teams within licensing could be achieved.

The paper explores a neglected aspect of research around partnership working and highlights the issues arising when a new partner attempts to enter an existing partnership.

Travellers are consistently found to have poorer health outcomes and health status than other minority ethnic groups. Very few studies have examined alcohol use among Travellers, but some indicate that their drinking patterns are changing. This study aims to explore alcohol use, health needs and health service access within an Irish Traveller population in England with a view to identifying themes for further study.

A qualitative exploratory pilot study was carried out using an oral life history approach. Ten individuals were interviewed along with two professionals working closely with the Traveller group.

While improvements in general health and access to healthcare were widely reported, many Travellers were concerned about the effects of leaving behind their nomadic lifestyle to living more “settled” lives. This change was felt to bring young male Travellers, in particular, into contact with the risky drinking behaviours of non‐Travellers and away from the monitoring and informal controls traditionally accompanying their former nomadic lifestyle.

These findings may not generalise to other Traveller groups; they draw on a small sample of Travellers living in “settled” accommodation. The sample was limited to discussions with older Travellers and further research is needed among younger generations to explore how health related behaviours and alcohol use may be changing.

This study highlights potential pathways for young male Travellers to become “youth at risk” importantly through involvement in alcohol and drug use. It should be of value to health policy makers and health/support workers in contact with Traveller communities.

Presents suggested titles for libraries to obtain, selected from the 2001 Poets House Showcase at which 1,300 books of poetry from various publishers were displayed. Suggests a further source of information in this field.