Alcohol Policy UK

Alcohol duty cuts responsible for 2,000 deaths says SARG report

A new report explores the impact of cuts to alcohol duties made in recent years, estimating it may have led to as many as 2,000 deaths in England.

Download Modelling the impact of alcohol duty policies since 2012 in England and Scotland [pdf] or see SARG and IAS summary here.

Conducted by the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group (SARG) on behalf of the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS), the report estimates the scrapping the alcohol duty escalator has resulted in £341 million in additional costs to the NHS, and other costs such as half a million additional lost days of work at a cost to the economy of £62 million.

Findings bulletins: brief interventions implementation, improving mental health and SUD care, residential evidence & more

Recent bulletins from the Findings drug and alcohol bank:

Major trial of ways to extend brief alcohol interventions

Could combinations of three strategies – training and support, financial reimbursement, and the opportunity to refer patients to a website – effectively and cost-effectively boost delivery of brief alcohol interventions in five European countries, including England? The aim was to find the best way to narrow the gap in primary care between the number of patients who could benefit from these interventions and those who receive them. An important trial whose findings we analyse in depth, and for which we have updated our analysis of the cost-effectiveness findings.

What would better mental health and substance use care look like?

Further minimum pricing evidence: positive effects as predicted?

Two further pieces of evidence have been released indicating the early stage effects of minimum pricing in Scotland, including an analysis on consumer purchasing data and an NHS Health Scotland evaluation of the impact on alcohol retailers and purchasers. 

Published in the BMJ, an analysis of the immediate impact on alcohol purchases in Scotland utilised samples of household purchasing data including England as a control group. Amongst the findings, a fall in the purchasing of alcohol in Scotland was found such that it concluded MUP led to a 7.6% reduction in off-trade purchases in Scotland, equivalent to drop of 328 g (41 UK units) per adult per household per year. This may be seen as broadly in line with early MUP market research sales data released earlier this year by NHS Scotland showing a fall in consumption against a rise in England.

News & updates September 2019: MUP impacts, tax policy, Brexit, drugs, pubs & more

Selected media stories since the August update:

Minimum price 'cuts drinking by half a pint a week', according to a BBC headline following the release new data on Scotland's minimum unit pricing (MUP) introduced in 2016. While households in England increased their consumption slightly, Scottish purchasing was estimated to have fallen by 7.6% on average, equivalent to 1.2 units a week.

Meanwhile, the number of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow fell by more than a fifth since MUP, reported ITV news. The figures were presented at the British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) conference in Glasgow based on data from the city's Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) and also reported by the BBC. The BBC also reported on a study to look at the impact of MUP on the homeless to be lead by Glasgow Caledonian University.

IAS Alert September 2019: pregnancy, WHO, duty, MUP, military & more

The latest Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) Alcohol Alert: September 2019 is now available (here for PDF version). Read the editorial here and articles below:

• COVER STORY – Midwives call for more support to deliver alcohol advice
• Irish to ban discount deals
• Airport alcohol arrests plummet
• WHO Europe: Prevalence of alcohol consumption ‘detrimental’
• Use Brexit to shake up “irrational” alcohol duty system, think tank says

Minimum pricing at home and away: where next?

In this guest post, Jane Hughes, a researcher at the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group (SARG), explores the current position of MUP across the UK and elsewhere, and the key issues for policy debates.

A bit like Brexit, implementation of the minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy in Scotland has had its share of twists, turns, legal challenges and divided public opinion. In Scotland, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation to introduce the policy in 2012 and, after a five-year legal challenge led by the Scotch Whisky Association, it was eventually implemented on 1^st May 2018.

The alcohol tax system: politics & reform after Brexit?

A new report has set out detailed proposals on how alcohol duty could be reformed after Brexit to deliver a 'fit-for purpose' duty system.

See here for the Social Market Foundation's (SMF) report 'Pour Decisions? The case for reforming alcohol duty' [pdf], and summaries from the SMF and the report's sponsors the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS).

The current duty system has been a long-running issue of contention in UK policy debates, and whilst the Treasury has the ability to adjust rates, duty systems vary significantly by product. For example, spirits and beer duty is based on alcohol content, whilst wine and cider duties are based on the final product volume, creating 'mixed incentives' in terms of product strength.

More needed to ensure consistent advice from midwives: IAS report

A new study funded by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) highlights there is no standardised approach to screening for alcohol consumption during antenatal appointments and inconsistency in official guidance has led to midwives giving different advice on alcohol consumption in pregnancy.

Download ‘Alcohol guidelines for pregnant women: Barriers and enablers for midwives to deliver advice’ [pdf].

Nine out of ten midwives reported alcohol abstinence was advised within the guidelines, however four out of ten midwives were not aware of the actual content of the 2016 alcohol guidelines on pregnancy.

Although nearly all midwives (97%) ‘always’ or ‘usually’ advised all women to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy at the booking appointment (the first appointment), the proportion of who did so at later appointments fell to 38%.

The smoking ban and its effects on alcohol consumption: unintended consequences?

In this guest post, Rob Pryce, a Research Associate at the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group based in the University of Sheffield’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), looks at recent research on the effect of the smoking ban on alcohol consumption.

The smoking ban came in to force in Scotland in March 2006, followed by Wales (April 2007), Northern Ireland (April 2007) and then England (July 2007). It prohibited smoking in public places including workplaces, pubs, bars and restaurants. Smoking bans are now commonplace throughout the world, and research has examined their effect on smoking and associated health. However, the smoking ban may also have had unintended consequences on other health behaviours, including alcohol consumption.

News & updates August 2019: MUP 'compliance high', brain damage, labelling, student bar closures & more

Selected media stories since the July update:

Minimum unit pricing for alcohol (MUP) has been effectively implemented since it was introduced in early 2018, reports the BBC. Compliance had be found to be high among licensed premises in Scotland according to a report published by NHS Health Scotland as part of a series of evaluations of MUP. Scottish Ministers say the policy will save approximately 400 lives over the next five years and lead to about 8,000 fewer alcohol-related hospital admissions, reports The Guardian.