***Thank you to Clare Beeston & the MESAS Project Team for the following information***
As many of you will already know, In 2012, the Scottish Government passed the Alcohol (Minimum Unit Pricing) (Scotland) 2012 Act (the Act) to create a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol. The legislation contains what is known as a ‘sunset clause’. This means that it will expire after the sixth year of implementation unless the Scottish Parliament votes for it to continue. To inform this decision there is a ‘review clause’ requiring that the Minister presents a review report to parliament on the impact of MUP as soon as possible after the fifth year of implementation.
The Scottish Government has tasked NHS Health Scotland, under the Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) work programme, with leading the evaluation of MUP and producing the review report.
The MUP legislation has been subject to a legal challenge led by the Scotch Whisky Association in partnership with European wine and spirits producers. However, the judicial process is now nearing its close, with an appeal to the UK Supreme Court being heard in July 2017. While the outcome cannot be presumed, in order that a robust and comprehensive evaluation be completed, the MESAS team have developed a proposed portfolio of studies with which to evaluate the impact of MUP.
An overview of the plans to evaluate MUP (including details on the governance of these plans) is now available to view on the new MUP evaluation webpage at: http://www.healthscotland.scot/health-topics/alcohol/evaluation-of-minimum-unit-pricing