Publication - FOI/EIR release

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) information: FOI release

Published: 3 May 2023
Directorate: Population Health Directorate
Topic: Health and social care, Money and tax, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202300347130
Date received: 14 March 2023
Date responded: 24 April 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

Question 1 - How much money has the Scottish Government handed out to Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) over the last five years? Breakdown of when and what the money was spent on.

Question 2 - How much money has SHAAP paid to the Scottish Government over the same time period? Breakdown of when and what the money was spent on?

Question 3 - How many responses has the alcohol advertising ban received and breakdown of how many positive/negative responses were there?

Question 4 - How much money has been spent on the consultation so far?

Question 5 - All correspondence (including emails, texts and whatsapps) between SHAAP and the Scottish Government including special advisers, civil servants, ministers between November 2022 and the date of this FOI?

Response

The answers to your questions 1 to 4 are as follows.

Question 1 - The breakdown of the funding provided by the Scottish Government to SHAAP in each of the last five years is:

In 2022/23, SHAAP received grant funding of £247,590 through quarterly payments.
In 2021/22, SHAAP received grant funding of £246,500 through quarterly payments.
In 2020/21, SHAAP received grant funding of £191,636 through quarterly payments.
In 2019/20, SHAAP received grant funding of £191,636 through quarterly payments.
In 2018/2019, SHAAP received grant funding of£212,744 through quarterly payments.

The funding SHAAP receives from the Scottish Government is to further the aims of the following programme which are:

Aim One: To raise awareness about alcohol-related harms with health practitioners, policy makers and the public
- Intended outcome: To support recognition of harms and encourage effective interventions at all levels
Aim Two: To gather and disseminate evidence about alcohol-related harms and effective interventions
- Intended outcome: To inform the activities of policy makers and practitioners with robust evidence
Aim Three: To advocate for evidence-based and public health-focussed policies on alcohol
- Intended outcome: To have local, national and international policies that are based on the best possible evidence
Aim Four: To support the development and implementation of a new integrated alcohol and drug treatment strategy
- To support the delivery across all sectors of quality alcohol treatment services to all who need them, supporting recovery and engaging individuals and communities in planning, reviewing, evaluating and, where appropriate, delivering them.

Question 2 - The Scottish Government has not received any money from SHAAP over this time period.

Question 3 - The consultation on potential restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion has received 3,035 responses as of 23 March 2023. A breakdown of responses is not yet available. These will be read and analysed by an independent contractor who will produce a report on all responses. Non-confidential responses to the consultation will be published with the report in due course.

Question 4 - £5,664.62 has been spent on the design and publication of the consultation, including both the full version and the easy-read version.

I have attached separately copies of the information you requested at Question 5 on 24 April 2023. I included an index with page numbers in the main attachment which also includes the email exchanges and then attached separate documents for files associated with the emails.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the SHAAP website as the Scottish Government is included on mailing lists for SHAAP's mailing list updates which can be found at: SHAAP Mailings. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. Exemptions under section 38(1) of FOISA also apply to some the information you have requested. The names of individuals which make up email addresses have been redacted accordingly in the exchanges provided.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.