Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) Continuation and future pricing: Island Communities Impact Assessment

Step Two – Data Gathering :

Whilst there is no specific study relating to the effects of MUP to date within island communities, there is some evidence island communities tend to have slightly lower levels of hazardous and harmful drinking as well as lower mean units of weekly alcohol consumption compared to Scotland as a whole^[7]. The effects of the policy, however, are not expected to be significantly different than on mainland communities.

The Scottish Government is aware that for some of the islands there is a higher than population average proportion of employment within the alcohol industry. The PHS evaluation into MUP found no evidence of a significant positive or negative effect on the alcohol industry. The full details of our assessment on the impacts of the continuation and the price increase to 65ppu are set out in the BRIA^[8].

To support deliberation on the future of MUP, The Scottish Government commissioned Public Health Scotland to undertake an extensive evaluation of the policy, the conclusions of which were published in 2023. The evaluation found no evidence that MUP has had an effect on the island communities in a way that is significantly different from its effect on the mainland.