Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England Steering Group

The role includes:

• providing direction and recommendations on priorities relating to the smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England survey
• considering representations in relation to the needs of data users
• considering, agreeing and approving changes in data to be collected, methodology, questionnaires, sample design, processing and presentation of results

The group meetings are every six months. 

Dr Cher Cartwright - Chair

Cher completed her undergraduate degree in Genetic Biology before undertaking a research career investigating chemotherapy treatment in children with leukaemia as part of UK wide clinical trials. During this time she completed a PhD investigating genetic and environmental factors in the response to chemotherapy drug treatment. Her research studies allowed her to develop a wide range of techniques including designing, implementing and managing studies, ethical considerations, data analysis, report writing and communication styles. During this time she won the GlaxoSmithKline award for best oral communication at the British Pharmacological Society Meeting.  

In 2013 Cher joined NHS Digital. She has gained a wide range of experiences, working as part of the social care team, and also managing the National Diabetes Audit. For the past 3 years she has worked in the Population Health team. She heads up the team responsible for the delivery of the national surveys programme making sure all of our surveys meet customer expectations, deliver to time and maintain the high quality expected of a national programme.  

Fiona Daley - Section Head for Surveys team

Fiona joined NHS Digital in 2017 following previous roles within the Civil Service. For just over 5 years Fiona worked in the Data Access Request Service within NHS Digital and held roles such as enabling data delivery, creating and implementing an internal recruitment and training programme and business management.

In 2022, Fiona moved roles to the Survey team within the Population Health area of Open Data as the section head, overlooking the delivery of several surveys including the smoking drinking and drug user in England survey.  

Sean Ryan – Data Operations Manager

Sean joined the Population Health Surveys team in July 2023 as the Data Operations manager.

Sean has worked with various NHS trusts as Data Liaison Manager for the Surgical Device and Implants Database. Prior to joining NHS England, Sean has worked in the fertility and pharmaceutical sectors.

Jane Stevens

Jane is a Research Director at Ipsos, who leads on in-school surveys. She currently directs the annual Ipsos Young Peoples Omnibus survey, working with clients such as the Gambling Commission and the Sutton Trust. Jane has worked in social research for over 25 years and was involved in the 2021 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Survey.

Jamie Roberts

Jamie is a Senior Research Executive within Ipsos’s Social Research Institute and has been involved with several quantitative and qualitative projects. She is currently involved in two school surveys the 2021 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Survey as well as the International Self Report Delinquency Study.

Sam Clemens

Sam is head of the Probability Surveys Unit at Ipsos, which specialises in high quality, random probability surveys. She has over 30 years experience in social research, and has been involved in the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Survey since 2016.

Harry Sumnall

Harry is a Professor in Substance Use in the School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University. His undergraduate degree was in Pharmacology at the University of Manchester, and he completed his PhD, examining the Behavioural Pharmacology of MDMA, at the University of Liverpool. He joined LJMU in 2003 where he developed specialisms in public health.

Harry undertakes and collaborates on a wide range of research on drug related topics - from pre-clinical studies to policy analysis - but has particular specialism in young people’s drug use, and prevention interventions. Harry’s funded research programmes have examined the evidence base for substance use prevention and the mechanisms for implementing evidence based practice and policy. Other current work includes research into public stigma towards people who use drugs, public support for drug policy, psychedelic microdosing, alcohol marketing, and the development and evaluation of interventions and support services for people at higher risk of drug related harm.

Keiron Watt

Keiron is a Research and Data Analyst for the Local Government Association (LGA). He is involved in designing and delivering research, analysis and data projects covering both qualitative and quantitative methods. He also delivers data analysis and benchmarking projects, using performance, financial and other data, which also includes writing and promoting reports for the LGA data service, LG Inform.

Mark Cook

Mark is a principal analyst in OHID-DHSC responsible for delivering the intelligence work programme for tobacco, alcohol and gambling. Mark manages the operational aspects of the team as well as the strategical side when planning outputs in the wider policy and departmental context. His current role requires a high level of understanding of population health analysis techniques, statistical methods, public health practice and health promotion as well as ability to respond to complex problems confidently and pragmatically within a changing environment. Mark frequently collaborates with policy teams for his topic areas as well as managing the production and quality assurance of official statistic publications.

Before joining PHE/OHID in 2018, Mark has worked in health research and intelligence for a Primary Care Trust, Local Authority, and a Clinical Commissioning Group covering a broad range of public health topics and data sources.