Paul Pugh has received a national award at the House of Lords for tackling underage drinking with his Paul’s Pledge campaign.

Paul received the Chairman’s Award from the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) chair Derek Lewis.

Mr Lewis said: "Paul visits schools, colleges and youth clubs to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of alcohol-fuelled violence.

"Paul spent two months in a coma after being assaulted in Ammanford when he was on a quiet night out with friends. In 2014 he launched Paul’s Pledge with Dyfed-Powys Police to raise awareness and warn about the effect that such violence can have on individuals and their families.

"He has made presentations to more than 10,000 young people across South Wales and clearly has a huge impact. I am delighted to present this award to Paul in recognition of his courage, bravery and inspiration.”

After receiving the award Paul said: "I am over the moon receiving the Community Alcohol Partnerships Chairman's Award. Thank you to CAP for putting on such an amazing event. A massive congratulations to all the award winners and the hard work they have done in their communities."

Pontardawe CAP was also highly commended for their work tackling underage drinking by focussing on educating young people and holding local public engagement events.

CAPs are made up of partnerships between retailers, local authorities, police, schools, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to empower communities to tackle alcohol-related harm to young people and improve the quality of life for residents.

The CAP 2019 annual report, launched at the House of Lords, shows how this innovative partnership approach has brought significant reductions in alcohol supply to children, alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and underage street drinking.

Derek Lewis added: “Underage drinking is associated with school and educational problems, unprotected sex, consumption of illicit drugs, violence and drinking problems in later life. We have been greatly encouraged to see emerging evidence that CAPs are reducing alcohol consumption by underage children. While the proportion of young people in England who regularly consume alcohol has dropped slowly between 2001 and 2018, the reductions achieved in CAP areas are even greater, with 52% average reductions in regular drinking among 13-16 year olds. We believe that this reflects the increasing emphasis on working with schools within the CAP areas.”