Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland on sales of cider; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of such minimum unit pricing.

The Government has made no assessment of the evidence from minimum unit pricing implementation in Scotland. However, the Government is developing a new cross-government alcohol strategy which will set out targeted action to prevent and reduce harmful drinking, support vulnerable people affected by others’ alcohol misuse, improve the pathway into treatment for people with alcohol dependency and professionalise the licensing system.

The new strategy will not include a commitment to introduce minimum unit pricing at this time but Public Health England will be commissioned to carry out a scientific review into the impact of minimum unit pricing following its recent introduction in Scotland.