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Real terms funding cut and missed opportunities amount to disappointing budget which fails to take Scotland’s alcohol harm emergency seriously

Alcohol Focus Scotland, the national charity working to prevent and reduce harm caused by alcohol, has questioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to addressing Scotland’s alcohol harm emergency following yesterday’s draft Scottish Budget. The charity says that a mix of funding cuts and missed opportunities amount to a disappointingly lacking budget which will miss the mark in tackling alcohol harm.

The budget, announced by Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government Shona Robison MSP, allotted £80.9 million for alcohol and drugs, an increase of only £500,000 funding from the previous year – amounting to a real terms cut.

£60 million of the budget for Alcohol and Drugs Policy is dedicated to the National Mission on Drug Deaths, with the remaining £20.9 million for investment in local prevention, treatment, recovery and dealing with the consequences of problem alcohol and drug use.

This means the Scottish Government have not taken on board the Audit Scotland recommendation in their recent report into alcohol and drug services that the Scottish Government must increase funding to tackle alcohol harm by mid-2025, while continuing to tackle drug-related harm.

In evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee last month, the Auditor General warned that “the creation of the National Mission [for Drugs] has in part been at the expense of focus on alcohol deaths and alcohol services.”

The Cabinet Secretary also neglected to heed calls from health campaigners to reintroduce a public health supplement on alcohol and tobacco retailers.

The NCD Alliance Scotland, an alliance of 24 major health charities, had written to the cabinet secretary prior to the budget to outline the strong case for the reintroduction of the public health supplement – citing increased revenues generated by the recent rise in minimum unit pricing for alcohol and strong public support for a levy on retailers selling health harming products.

Re-introducing a public health supplement could save lives by funding the scanning equipment and staff training needed to catch liver disease early – a preventative measure that would reduce pressure on and costs to the NHS.

Commenting on the budget, Laura Mahon, Deputy CEO of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said:

“With a real terms cut to funding on alcohol prevention and treatment, and the failure to re-introduce the public health supplement on alcohol retailers, the budget in its current form is disappointingly lacking in the ambition and determination needed to tackle Scotland’s alcohol emergency.

“Three years ago, the Scottish Government used their budget to declare alcohol a public health emergency, yet this year made no mention of a crisis that has only worsened during that time – with alcohol deaths hitting a 15 year high in 2023.

“The Scottish Government has repeatedly pointed to funding for the National Mission as evidence that they are taking alcohol harm seriously. Yet Audit Scotland has now confirmed what Alcohol Focus Scotland has been saying for some time – that tacking alcohol onto the National Mission for Drugs is totally insufficient for the scale of the problem and has led to reduced focus on tackling alcohol harm.

“Audit Scotland has recently highlighted that NHS costs are projected to continue to rise, and that making savings remains challenging. With preventable liver disease accounting for most alcohol-specific deaths, and hugely costly to treat in its later stages, the Government must take this opportunity to re-introduce the public health supplement on large retailers.

“This levy, backed by 57% of the Scottish Public, would mainly affect large retailers with deep pockets who are currently profiting off the back of Scotland’s alcohol emergency, and generating substantially higher revenues via the increase in minimum unit pricing.

“Funds raised could support a wide range of prevention and treatment initiatives to reduce alcohol harm, such as early detection of liver disease, which would save lives and provide one clear route to reducing cost pressures on our NHS.

“We urge the Scottish Government to accept Audit Scotland’s recommendation to increase focus and funding on tackling alcohol harm, and come back with amendments to the budget that truly recognise the scale of the alcohol emergency we face.”