Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no central target in place in relation to this.

In June 2008, we published our discussion document Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol which outlined a robust package of measures to tackle alcohol misuse. We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and our next steps will be announced early in 2009.

Expenditure on the National Conversation supports delivery of our manifesto commitment to give the Scottish people the opportunity to debate, reflect and then decide Scotland''s constitutional future in a referendum.

The design, publication, translation and launch of Choosing Scotland''s Future cost approximately £48,000. National Conversation events organised and paid for by the Scottish Government have so far cost approximately £44,000, including a one-off cost for branding and staging materials which will be used throughout the conversation. Funding of £87,000 over two years has been made available to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Young Scot to facilitate the National Conversation among the third sector and young people respectively.

All expenditure on the National Conversation has been met from existing budgets.

The Scottish Government has not issued any such guidance. These are decisions made by clinicians on the basis of their own clinical judgement and on a case-by-case basis.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government has not provided any such guidance to police forces.

Test purchasing is, of course, an enforcement tool which is available to the police to assess compliance with the licensing law and, as such, no specific guidance is available to licensees. However, the roll-out of alcohol test purchasing arrangements across Scotland has been accompanied by national and local publicity which has helped to raise awareness among licensees that the law is being more vigorously enforced and to encourage them to be more vigilant. The police and local authorities are more than willing to offer individual licensees advice and guidance to assist them in meeting their legal obligation to comply with licensing law and to take all reasonable steps to avoid underage sales.

Guidance is available in A Practical Guide To Test Purchasing in Scotland which can be accessed on the Scottish Government website. This guidance, which draws on the experiences gained from the Scottish test purchasing pilots on tobacco and alcohol, was developed in conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPOS), the Crown Office Prosecution Fiscal Service (COPF), the Society of Chief Officers for Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS), business representatives and health interest groups and agencies.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/25155751/0.

The Scottish Government has incurred no specific expenditure on alcohol test purchasing in 2008 nor does it anticipate doing so in 2009. It is not possible to provide costs incurred by Scottish Police Forces for mounting alcohol test purchasing programmes, because these are absorbed within operational police budgets.

There are no such recorded figures because only subsections (1) to (3) and (6) of section 105 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 are in force. The remaining subsections of section 105 will come into force on 1 September 2009. Until then, transitional arrangements apply and these are set out in sections (3) to (5) of the Licensing (Scotland) Act (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006.

There are no such recorded figures because only subsections (1) to (3) and (6) of section 105 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 are in force. The remaining subsections of section 105 will come into force on 1 September 2009. Until then, transitional arrangements apply and these are set out in sections (3) to (5) of the Licensing (Scotland) Act (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006.