4. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to Alcohol Focus Scotland’s emergency call to urgently take action to prevent further deaths and reduce harm from alcohol. (S6F-02048)

F irst and foremost, my deepest sympathy, and, I suspect, the deepest sympathy of all members in the chamber, goes to those who have been affected by the loss of a loved one through alcohol.

We remain absolutely determined to reduce alcohol-related harm. That is why we have introduced initiatives such as our world-leading minimum unit pricing. Recent research estimates that it has saved hundreds of lives. As outlined last week, I am committed to reviewing the current level of minimum unit pricing alongside other on-going work, such as the upcoming United Kingdom alcohol treatment guidelines, the development of alcohol treatment targets for April 2024 and the expansion of our residential rehabilitation capacity by 50 per cent by the end of this parliamentary session.

Last year, £106.8 million was made available to alcohol and drug partnerships to support local and national initiatives. We will carefully consider the points that have been raised by Alcohol Focus Scotland, and the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy is due to meet it and other stakeholders in the coming weeks to discuss our approach to tackling alcohol harm.

I know that the First Minister will agree that the on-going alcohol emergency requires a public health-led policy response to save even more lives and reduce health inequalities. With that in mind, I really appreciate the update on developing alcohol treatment targets. Is the First Minister able to say anything about alcohol brief interventions?

The First Minister:

Stephanie Callaghan raises an important point in relation to alcohol brief interventions. We remain absolutely committed to our ABI delivery programme, which has been in place for 10 years. We have seen excellent progress and sustained delivery of the national ABI programme across Scotland today, and I congratulate local partners on that fantastic achievement.

The alcohol framework makes a commitment to review the evidence on current delivery of ABIs to ensure that they are being carried out in the most effective manner. We are working with Public Health Scotland to review the evidence on the current delivery of alcohol brief interventions to determine how the system could better meet the needs of individuals. I will update the member in due course, once that review has been completed.

We know from National Records of Scotland and Alcohol Focus Scotland that alcohol-specific death rates in Scotland’s most deprived areas are more than five times higher than they are in the least deprived areas. With hospital stays linked to alcohol, we see rates that are six times higher in our most deprived communities than in our most affluent. There is a clear need for improved access to alcohol-related support services in our most deprived areas, which are being badly let down by the Government.

The alcohol-related and wider health inequalities that exist in our country are both deep and divisive. The First Minister’s predecessor did little to address them. How can the country have any confidence that he will do any better?

The First Minister:

I do not agree with that final point, of course. It was my predecessor, when she was health secretary, who introduced minimum unit pricing for alcohol, and it was successive health secretaries who made sure that we pushed ahead, in the face of considerable Opposition to minimum unit pricing for alcohol. My understanding is that there was considerable opposition from Scottish Labour to minimum unit pricing of alcohol.

As Carol Mochan talks about saving lives, it is worth saying that the research on unit pricing of alcohol has shown that more than 150 lives a year have been saved because of MUP. It has also resulted in 411 fewer hospital admissions. It is encouraging to see in that research—I am happy to share a copy of it with Carol Mochan, because it is directly related to her question—that the policy is having an effect in Scotland’s most deprived areas, which experience higher death rates and levels of harm from problem alcohol use.

I am happy to give Carol Mochan further details on what more can be done. I am confident in saying that this Government is taking action on alcohol-related harm, particularly in the areas of highest deprivation.

A new study from the University of Glasgow found a correlation between the minimum unit pricing policy and the 13.4 per cent reduction in deaths. However, the 50p rate was set over a decade ago and inflation has been raging since, so we need a change to catch up.

Will the First Minister bring forward the review of minimum unit pricing? Will he uprate it from 50p and bring forward legislation to tie the rate to inflation in order to save lives in the future?

The First Minister:

I pay credit to Willie Rennie. He has raised this issue many times, including a few times when he raised it with me when I was the health secretary. He makes a really important point about the research.

Willie Rennie will know, because he was in Parliament at the time, that there was robust legal challenge to minimum unit pricing. We are ensuring that, when it comes to the review of minimum unit pricing, we have robust evidence in place in case there was ever to be a legal challenge to a potential increase to the minimum unit price. It is so important that we have that robust evidence base in order to determine and support any decision on a change in level of MUP.

The review of the level of MUP will be concluded in late 2023. Willie Rennie has asked me to see whether that can be brought forward. I will do that—I will have that discussion. However, I go back to my first point that it is so important that we have robust evidence in place for any decision that is made on minimum unit pricing.