Evidence submitted to committee of AMs
MEDICAL leaders will tell AMs this week why they back a minimum unit price for alcohol in Wales, but concerns have been raised how any law would be enforced.
The Welsh NHS Federation, which represents the country’s seven health boards, Public Health Wales, doctors’ group BMA Cymru and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Wales all want the Welsh Government to press forward with its Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) Wales Bill.
They have submitted evidence to a committee of AMs, who are investigating the issue.
But Welsh Trading Standards have warned the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to be aware that “local authority regulation budgets have suffered dramatically” and that “it is no longer realistic to expect proactive, consistent enforcement activity across Wales”.
The heads of Trading Standards and the Welsh Local Government Association said they supported the idea of a minimum price to reduce the harm caused by excessive drinking. They added that early compliance with new legislation was most likely when the new law was seen as “necessary, reasonable, easy and cheap to comply with”, when retailers knew clearly what was expected of them, and when Trading Standards had “capacity to check compliance”.
They recommended simple enforcement measures such as fixed penalty notices.
The Welsh NHS Federation said it believed a 50p minimum unit price would alcohol-related deaths from 504 (in 2016) by 53, and reduce 15,165 annual hospital admissions by 1,400. It also said crime would reduce.
Such a pricing structure would make a typical can of cider at least £1, a bottle of wine at least £4.69, and a litre of vodka more than £20.
The federation said the public drank less than a few years ago but that it was still too much, and that people in the most deprived areas were nearly four times more likely to go to hospital with an alcohol-related illness than people from the least deprived ones.
It added: “Many middle-class people whose drinking exceeds the recommended limits are likely to continue to do so, as it is a lifestyle choice which they will remain able to afford.”
The group said that small offlicences “are likely to be hardest hit” by any drop in sales.
Public Health Wales, in its submission, reiterated a call to slash the drink drive limit from 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams and said a third of every label on a bottle should carry a health warning.
The Welsh Government has not said yet what it wants a minimum unit price to be.
Similar proposals were enacted in Scotland five years ago but the legislation was tied up in court challenges until last week, when the Supreme Court ruled that it did not breach European Union law.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists Wales said it hoped Wales would quickly pass a unit pricing law, with the price set at 50p initially.
The group said referrals to drug and alcohol teams might initially spike as a result, adding: “This would be welcomed as it would indicate that the legislation was meeting its objectives and that people were instead seeking treatment.”