Minimum unit price ‘major tool in reducing alcohol consumption’

MINIMUM unit pricing for alcohol will be a major part of a wider package of measures to reduce the harms caused by excessive alcohol consumption in Wales, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has said.

Ahead of an Assembly debate on the Welsh Government’s Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Bill, which was introduced to the National Assembly last October, Mr Gething has announced extra investment in substance misuse services.

Assembly Members will decide whether the Bill should pass its first legislative stage and proceed on to stage two – which involves detailed consideration by Assembly committees. If passed by the Assembly later this year, the current intention is that a minimum unit price would be introduced 12 months after the Bill’s Royal Assent.

Last year, Welsh Governmentcommissioned research found that if a 50p minimum unit price was introduced it would be estimated to avoid 66 deaths and 1,281 hospital admissions per year.

The Welsh Government invests almost £50m a year to support people with substance misuse issues.

Almost half of this funding goes directly to the seven area planning boards which commission substance misuse services for their region.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr Gething said: “Wales, like so many other Western countries, has a problem with cheap, strong, readily available alcohol. Minimum unit pricing is not a silver bullet, but it will be a major new and important tool in our approach to reducing alcohol consumption.”

In Scotland, the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) Act was passed in June 2012 and is to be introduced later this year.