Current status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive what the financial impact on the average drinker will be of a 50p per unit minimum price for alcohol.
The modelling carried out by the University of Sheffield shows that a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol is estimated to increase spend per drinker by around £24 a year. The modelling breaks this down into £8 a year for a moderate drinker, £54 a year for a hazardous drinker, and £123 a year for a harmful drinker.
Alcohol misuse costs Scotland £3.6 billion per year, which equates to £900 per adult in Scotland, whether they drink or not. Minimum pricing will go some way towards reducing alcohol-related harm and the costs associated with it.