SHAAP has joined nine leading Scottish health charities to produce a report Non-Communicable Disease Prevention: Priorities for 2021/22 calling for urgent action on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) caused by health harming products such as alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy foods. 

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) have published new data [opens PDF in new window] for alcohol-specific deaths registered in Scotland in 2020. The number of alcohol-specific deaths has increased by 17% to 1,190 in 2020, up from 1,020 in 2019.

This year's Men's Health Week runs from 14-20 June.

SHAAP are partnering with Men's Health Forum Scotland during Men's Health Week to highlight the high rates of problem drinking in men in Scotland, and the consequently high health burden relating to alcohol.

We have produced infographics based on the latest data for Scotland, and provide resources for cutting down, our SHAAP/IAS Men and Alcohol: Key Issues report and a blog post we commissioned to coincide with Men's Health Week.

A poll from YouGov asked the public what legal requirements they would like to see for alcohol labelling. The majority asked supported more information being included on labels:

• 75% want the number of units in a product displayed
• 61% want calorie information displayed
• 53% want the amount of sugar displayed

Ninety-four leading health experts, including charities, medical royal colleges and academics, as well as parliamentarians, have written to the Health Secretary calling for improved alcohol labelling.

SHAAP strongly feel that consumers have a #RightToKnow what is in their drink, and we were co-signatories of the letter to Matt Hancock.

Learn more about the YouGov poll and read the letter to the Health Secretary on the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) website.

Ahead of this year’s election to the Scottish Parliament, SHAAP has analysed the policy proposals on alcohol put forward in each of the main political parties’ election manifestos. This is a snapshot of the proposals that have been featured and is by no means exhaustive, but aims to offer an overview of manifesto content for those who are interested in the different political parties’ policies on reducing alcohol harm in Scotland.

SHAAP supports the principle of differential duty rates for on and off trade retailers in the current market conditions in the UK. Duty rates in the UK have been falling behind incomes and prices for many years and rates for all categories are at historically low levels. We call for a long-term strategy of progressive duty increases in the off trade. We do not support a reduction in current on trade duty rates.

We are not encouraging on trade drinking, particularly during the pandemic given the risk of intoxicated crowds gathering in an enclosed space.

Public Health Scotland has today published two studies on the impact of initial COVID-19 restrictions on alcohol sales and consumption.

On 15 February 2021, SHAAP wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a call to increase alcohol duty by 2% above inflation, ahead of the Budget.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) has launched our Manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. This calls on all parties and candidates to recognise that alcohol-related harm has implications for multiple other areas of physical and mental health, and to commit to policies that will help tackle Scotland's alcohol problem.

The National Records of Scotland have published new data [opens PDF in new window] for alcohol-specific deaths registered in Scotland in 2019. These data show there were 1,020 alcohol-specific deaths in 2019, a drop of 10% from 2018, and the lowest annual total since 2013.