Public Health wants alcohol duty to rise

Speaking following the publication of the 2023 Combined Substance Use Strategy Annual Report, director of Public Health Nicola Brink said that Guernsey and Alderney had a culture which normalised alcohol consumption at harmful levels.

‘Out of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, alcohol use is really a very significant concern for us,’ she said. ‘It is our recommendation, on a public health perspective, that excise duties should increase. We’ve looked at a number of pricing policies in relation to alcohol, one of them being minimum unit pricing, but also increasing excise duty. What we’ve opted to use at this time is an increase in excise duty so we’re going to keep minimum unit pricing under review.’

Dr Brink wanted to emphasise that pricing was not the only step being taken to combat the issue.

‘We are looking to address it with a suite of measures,’ she said.

‘Within the report we’ve looked at alcohol pricing policies, but we are also looking at alcohol services and campaigns in conjunction with the Health Improvement Commission. What we want to do is work towards addressing the idea that alcohol consumption at excessive levels is normal.’

Alcohol duty increased by 5.9% in the last budget to £5.32 per litre of wine and £1.05 per litre of beer.

Minimum unit pricing sets a baseline price at which a unit of alcohol can be sold.

This strategy has been introduced in Scotland and Wales, but failed to pass into law in England.

In Scotland the ‘MUP’ is 50p. This means that a bottle of wine containing 10 units of alcohol can be sold for no less than £5 and a standard strength pint of beer containing 2.5 units cannot be sold for under £1.25.

Public Health programme manager Heather Ewert said that ‘alcohol culture’ was defined by its acceptability, affordability and accessibility.

‘That’s how easy it is to get, how cheap it is, and how acceptable it is to have,’ she said.

‘The excise duties are what the World Health Organisation called the “best buy”. It’s one of the easiest interventions for the greatest health gain, so we’re looking at that initially alongside the other interventions which are slightly more medium term.’

She added that alcohol consumption per capita was slightly higher in the Bailiwick compared to England and Wales, although care had to be taken with figures because the statistics were collected in a slightly different way.

Both the UK and Guernsey saw an increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic and Miss Ewert said that data from the UK had shown this had subsequently fallen.

‘We have seen that it is reducing but not to pre-pandemic levels,’ she said. ‘The picture in Guernsey will be clearer once the Wellbeing Survey is published later this year.’