Alcohol Focus Scotland and SHAAP say the Scotch Whisky Association's intention to appeal the Court of Session ruling on minimum pricing for alcohol 'beggars belief'. Joint press release.

SHAAP has published a new report which outlines proceedings from SHAAP and SARN's inaugural PhD and Early Career Research Symposium held on 18th April 2016 in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

The day consisted of eight short presentations from researchers at varying time-points within the academic
journey from a range of institutions across Scotland, the UK and Europe. The presentations were followed by
three roundtable sessions where participants had the opportunity to discuss the PhD journey, share experiences,
identify opportunities for collaboration and understand where and how SARN and SHAAP can help in the future.
The symposium was brought to a close with a plenary session from Dr Edward Duncan, Senior Research Fellow,
University of Stirling. The session was chaired by Dr Aisha Holloway, Chair of SARN and Eric Carlin, Director of
SHAAP.

Eric Carlin, SHAAP's Director, has called in 'The Times' (26th October 2016) for the Scottish Whisky Association's members to require the Association to drop its opposition to MUP, following the decision in favour of the policy by the Court of Session. He argues that this might go some way to repairing the industry's tarnished reputation.

SHAAP has issued a press release welcoming today's announcement by the Scottish Court that MUP is legal.

We call on the Scotch Whisky Association and other multi-national alcohol producers to get out of the way and allow the law to be implemented as soon as possible.

SHAAP has submitted a response to Northern Ireland Assembly's Committee for Communities consultation on the Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Bill.

In the response we welcome the proposal for regulations to tighten sales of and exposure to alcohol by minors. We express concern that in certain aspects of the Bill, the economic interests of individual venues/on-trade premises are being prioritised over the interests of public health and limiting exposure and access to alcohol by minors. We call on the Northern Ireland Assembly to include a licensing objective to protect public health in the Bill, as is the case in Scotland.

SHAAP has submitted a response to the Scottish Government's consultation on the Scottish Health Survey. The consultation asked for comment and suggestions for questions to be included in the survey.

In the response we call for the questions in the alcohol section to extended and clarified; enhanced data linkages between related topics; and for data to be collected annually to support and strengthen the evidence base on alcohol and the harms it causes.

SHAAP has submitted a response to the UK Government HM Treasury/HMRC Consultation on the introduction of the new Soft Drinks Industry Levy. Question 11 in the consultation concerns added-sugar low-alcohol products.

In the response, we welcome the proposals to include these products in the Levy and argue that the Levy should be set at a level which does not discourage a shift in consumption patterns to lower strength alcohol products. However, we express concern that inclusion of added-sugar low alcohol products in the Levy may result in these produts being viewed as soft drinks rather than alcohol products.

SHAAP has issued a press release following the publication of a report by the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) ''Cheap alcohol: the price we pay'' which highlights that alcohol is still being sold in the UK at pocket-money prices - the price  of a cinema ticket buys 7½ litres of strong cider.

In response SHAAP calls on the Scotch Whisky Association to respect the Scottish Court of Session's decision with regards to MUP; calls on UK Government, and SNP MPs at Westminster, to restruture cider duty, so that high strength products can be taxed at higher rates; and call on the Scottish and UK Governments to commit to working to ensure that safeguarding and reinforcing policies that will reduce harms from alcohol will be considered as a priority in Brexit negotiations and in all future trade negotiations.

Research and Policy Briefing No.11 now out. Highlights include:

• MESAS alcohol consumption and price data update
• EU AVMSD follow-up study
• Model-based appraisal of MUP vs taxation in Scotland
• Alcohol consumption as a cause of cancer
• Update of UK CMOs' Low Risk Drinking Guidelines

Francisca Roman, PhD Student at University College London spoke at SHAAP/SARN's 2015/16 'Alcohol Occasional' seminar series about alcohol use and binge drinking among adolescents in Chile, and the influence of the school environment on their drinking behaviour. In her presentation, Roman provided an outline of both alcohol use and the school system in Chile. She then outlined the findings of her PhD research which examines if the school attended by an adolescent has an impact on their alcohol consumption behaviours. The findings show that the socio-economic status of the school is associated with both non-binge drinking and binge drinking among adolescents in Chile. Roman concluded that Chilean society is very consumer driven and alcohol is increasingly used by individuals and families as a way of demonstrating wealth - a summary of her presentation's key points can be found here.