Wales - 'Minimum pricing' now firmly on the agenda

A proposed new law to introduce a minimum unit price for the sale and supply of alcohol in Wales, which the Welsh Government says could save almost 50 lives a year, has been published for consultation.

The draft bill proposes introducing an offence for alcohol to be sold or supplied below the minimum price per unit, which would be set at 50p per unit, although this would be kept under review.  Introducing a 50p minimum unit price is estimated to be worth £882m to the Welsh economy in terms of reductions in illness, crime and workplace absence over 20 years.

Alcohol misuse in Wales is estimated to cost the Welsh NHS around £109m every year in hospital admissions alone. Research commissioned by the Welsh Government estimates that the introduction of a 50p minimum unit price in Wales would lead to 50 fewer deaths a year and help prevent 1,400 hospital admissions.

The draft Bill proposes:

• New powers for Welsh Ministers to make subordinate legislation to set the minimum unit price for all alcohol sold or supplied in Wales
• Powers for local authorities to enforce the minimum unit price, including powers of entry for authorised officers; an offence of obstructing an authorised officer and the power to issue fixed penalty notices.

The consultation on the draft Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Bill will run until 11 December 2015 and can be found here.

Similar proposals for Scotland are currently mired in legal challenges which are unlikely to be concluded until 2016 at the very earliest.