Doctors and health campaigners today welcomed new research from Canada which they say shows that minimum pricing has the potential to save lives and reduce harmful drinking in Scotland. The new Canadian research is published as the Scottish Government prepares to defend the introduction of minimum pricing in Scotland against a legal challenge brought by the world's biggest alcohol corporations. A petition by the Scotch Whisky Association to get minimum pricing legislation overturned by the court will be heard in Edinburgh next week.

The Scottish Government lauched a National Parenting Strategy earlier this month. This includes a commitment  to introduce  a 24-30 month review (in April 2013) for each child  which will not only look at the childs development but also at  wider parental health issues such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental and physical health.

The survey report shows that although period prevalence of alcohol use among 15-16 year olds in the UK has declined since 1995, heavy episodic drinking and subjective drunkenness has not. More girls than boys now report heavy drinking and drunkenness in the last 30 days and boys report experiencing more problems. Although the majority of pupils associate alcohol with experiencing positive outcomes, they also report experiencing a number of problems related to their own alcohol consumption in the last 12 months

PLANS to introduce minimum pricing on alcohol in Scotland have been postponed indefinitely by ministers as a result of a growing legal challenge to the controversial move.

The Scottish Government has confirmed it will not be 
introducing the new law until legal action brought against it by drinks producers has been settled.

Over the Limit: The Truth about Families and Alcohol, warns of a silent epidemic of alcohol misuse by British families. The report warns that too many parents remain oblivious to the negative effects that alcohol can have on their parenting. An alarming 19% believe alcohol has a positive effect on their parenting ability and 62% of parents say that their drinking behaviour has no impact on their family at all.

Some of the key findings the report highlights are:

1. 22% of children live with a parent who drinks hazardously
2. 6% of children (around 700,000 across the country) live with a dependent drinker
3. 62% of children who were subject to care proceedings were from families with parental alcohol misuse
4. More than a third of all domestic violence cases involve alcohol

SHAAP has responded to a consultation from the Assembly of Northern Ireland who are consulting on amendments to their drink driving regulations.

SHAAP has submitted a response to the Social Policy Unit at the Northern Irish Executive to a consultation on the law regulating the sale and supply of alcohol.

SHAAP has produced a briefing for NGOs and Public Health Networks in the European Union to garner support for the Scottish government’s plans to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for Alcohol purchases.

We call on all NGOs and public health bodies to write to the EU and to their own Ministers in support of Scotland’s action before the 26^th September 2012.

Dr Peter Rice, Chair of SHAAP and Dr Evelyn Gillan, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland comment on the alcohol industry challenge to minimum unit price.

The House of Commons Health Committee have released their report on the UK Government's Alcohol Strategy. The SHAAP response can be read here.