SNP MSP for Glasgow Anne McLaughlin today expressed her horror at new figures that show the financial cost of alcohol misuse to public services across Scotland.

A new study conducted by the University of York reveals that Scotland currently spends £3.5 billion pounds of public money on dealing with the effects of alcohol misuse. This accumulates to an estimated £900.00 for every Scottish tax payer each year. With Glasgow picking up £399.6 million of the National bill, the highest of any local authority in Scotland.

Commenting on the findings, Anne McLaughlin said: "These figures are a real concern not just nationally, but locally for Glasgow. The strain that this puts on our public services, services which we all value and rely on, is so great that it simply cannot continue.

"Having spent a night in Glasgow with a local ambulance service, I have seen first hand the effects that alcohol misuse has on the people who misuse alcohol and the people who work on the front line dealing with the problem. This was an eye opener for me and confirmed for me that we definitely need action.

"Now we have been told about the financial impact. Almost one tenth of the national Scottish budget being spent on irresponsible alcohol consumption. This is £3.5 billion pounds not being spent on building schools, creating new jobs or helping the most vulnerable in our society. That is truly a national scandal.

"Enough really has to be enough now and I would appeal to all of my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament to stop and think about these figures. The people of Scotland are relying on us all to act in their best interests and it's with that in mind that I would urge them to support the Scottish Government's proposals to introduce a minimum pricing scheme for alcohol.

"This is something that is supported by the four UK Chief Medical Officers, the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges, the Church of Scotland, the Association of Chief Police Officers of Scotland and the Scottish Licensed Trade Association. On Friday, the House of Commons Health Committee also backed the Scottish Government Proposals.

"We've come to a point where we simply cannot go on with our eyes closed and our fingers in our ears. The time for action is now".

Notes:

1. The full report, The Societal Cost of Alcohol Misuse in Scotland for 2007, can be viewed here

2. The upper cost estimated in the report is similar in magnitude to an estimate of the cost of alcohol misuse to the UK as a whole of 55.1 billion pounds produced by the National Social Marketing Centre in 2007, as outlined in last Friday's House of Commons Health Select Committee report on UK alcohol policy, which recommended the adoption of minimum pricing.

3. Today's report, produced by independent health economists at York Health Economics Consortium, University of York, estimates costs for 2007 as this is the most recent year for which most relevant datasets are available. While a conservative approach has been adopted throughout, the ranges used in the report provide a potential minimum and maximum cost across the five domains examined, with midpoint estimates also provided.

4. This study includes analysis of data not available when previous Scottish estimates were derived and, crucially, includes more detailed measures of the potential human costs of excessive alcohol consumption.

5. In estimating the human impact of alcohol misuse in terms of the grief and suffering caused by premature deaths, the report uses established methodologies used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Department of Health in England.

6. Figures in the report estimate that the number of hazardous adult drinkers - men drinking over 21 units per week and women drinking over 14 units per week - is just over one million, around a fifth of the entire Scottish population. The number of harmful adult drinkers - men drinking over 50 units per week and women drinking over 35 units per week - is estimated at 230,000. Alcohol sales data suggest these figures may substantially under-estimate the actual number of hazardous and harmful drinkers in Scotland. Nielsen Company sales data suggest that enough alcohol was sold in 2007 for every adult in Scotland to exceed the male limit of 21 units every week of the year.

7. The Scottish Government introduced its Alcohol Bill to Parliament in November. The Bill's key proposals include:

• A minimum price per unit of alcohol to raise the cost of the cheapest ciders, lagers and low-grade spirits favoured by problem drinkers
  
• A ban on irresponsible off-sales promotions which encourage excessive drinking
  
• A duty on licensing boards to consider raising the off-sales purchase age to 21 where appropriate to develop local solutions to local problems
• A power to introduce a 'social responsibility fee' on some retailers to offset the costs of dealing with drink problems 8. The Scottish Government has committed a record investment of almost 120 million pounds over the period of the spending review (2008-11): the single largest increase ever for tackling alcohol misuse in Scotland, and almost a tripling in resources.