 The first item of business this afternoon is Scottish parliamentary corporate body questions. Question number one is from John Mason. To ask the Scottish Parliament corporate body what improvements can be made to committee rooms so that on-screen presentations can be seen by everyone present. John Perkland The presentation equipment currently used in the committee rooms is portable equipment which, if requested, can be configured to display presentations on multiple screens located around the room, thus allowing on-screen presentations to be seen by everyone present. John Mason I thank the member for that reply. The reality is that last week I attended the cross-party group on industrial communities and the majority of people present could not read the presentation on the screen because the screen was so small. Last night I again attended a cross-party group this time on credit unions. Again, the people present could not see what was written on the screens. I wonder whether the member would accept that there is a certain amount of frustration that we cannot cope with this high-tech side of things. John Perkland The member raises a valid question, but he will know that, as part of the digital parliament programme, a pilot of audio-visual technologies is being conducted in four meeting rooms, and feedback from that pilot will be used to inform future decisions on audio-visual technologies. The current mobile presentation equipment used in committee rooms could also be linked to broadcasting systems to ensure that the committee meeting will broadcast providing sufficient notice. Mary Scanlon To ask the Scottish Parliament corporate body what evaluation has been done on the effectiveness of its training courses. John Perkland The SPCB evaluates all learning and development. We request that the post-course evaluation is completed by all attendees on courses arranged by the SPCB. The evaluations ask about the ease of booking, accessibility of the location, that they are satisfied with the quality and content and how they will use the training in their role. HR uses the responses to make amendments to training courses when required. SPCB has planned changes to the delivery model for training provision that will modernise learning and development. Mary Scanlon Thank you for that helpful answer. I wonder if we can look at staff who could benefit from training. I carried out my informal straw poll of some MSP staff to find that most staff have not had any training since 1999, apart from fire safety. One member did a half-day course on word. Another walked out of a course, as she saw it, as a waste of time. Some of the recent recruits have signed up for training only to find their offered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays only, which are the busiest days for MSPs and staff, and others hope that some training might be available in recess. Is it not time to carry out a training needs analysis of MSP staff to discover their training and development needs so that they are supported in carrying out their job effectively and efficiently and also to continue to grow and develop their careers? John Pentland That is a very good question that was raised by Mary Scanlon. I am sure that Mary will know that there is a range of training available for MSP staff. For example, MSP staff can access a range of e-learning packages and attend the courses provided by the SPCB. Members can also access ones for training through the member's expansion scheme, and this information can be found on the Parliament website. Mary Fee Thank you, Presiding Officer. Sometimes there is a perception that training courses are just a tick box exercise and an excuse for a catch-up with no emphasis on outcomes. I am sure that that is not the case with the Scottish Parliament staff. Could the member advise the chamber what the Scottish Parliament staff experience of training provided is? John Pentland I am not too sure if the member is aware, but there was a recent staff experience survey that shows a very high degree of satisfaction with learning and development provided by the SPCB. 89 per cent of the staff feel that they have fair access to learning and development opportunities. 90 per cent felt that they had opportunities to develop their skills and experience in the last year, and 88 per cent believe that the learning and development opportunities that they have had have helped them to do their job better. Mary Fee Question 3 from John Wilson, please. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it has made of the use of business sponsorship for Parliament events. Linda Fabiani It is an on-going assessment because when the SPCB considers our programme of major events, we also consider the merits of business sponsorship. We are always looking to enhance and extend our activities as appropriate. It is very important to say that any agreed business sponsorship when we look at this programme should add to the event or the exhibition, and we would always consider any potential reputational risk to our Parliament before agreeing to any sponsorship. I would like to give two examples. On-going one is the festival of politics, where we work in partnership with a number of organisations to enhance that festival experience. Another recent one was where the SPCB worked in partnership to deliver the world-class exhibition, which was Andy Warhol's Pop Power in Politics, and we secured funding from external organisations to bring that exhibition to Scotland. John Wilson Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the Corporate Body for that response. On 14 April this year, it was announced that the Parliament building was to be rented out for receptions and dinners as an expansion of an existing pilot programme. The guidelines outlined by the Scottish Government on sponsorship of corporate events state that sponsorship arrangements must not compromise the dignity or public standing of the Government and sponsorship must not be accepted from inappropriate sources, e.g. companies with dubious and doubtful backgrounds. With those points in mind, the Corporate Body indicated why it was deemed acceptable to accept donations from a company called Lockheed Martin, who are clearly involved in a number of areas in the world stage, not only including the production of trident nuclear weapons, which the Parliament has, on several occasions, voted against. Linda Fabiani There are actually a few different issues in there, Presiding Officer, because what has been brought in is a separate issue to what the original question was, but business sponsorship for Parliament events. We are now looking at the pilot that is on going for commercial events, so let's separate those two completely separate issues. However, in reference to the particular Parliament event that has been mentioned by John Wilson with Lockheed Martin, that was the Scottish Public Service Awards. The Scottish Parliament co-hosted the Scottish Public Service Awards 2014, because it was an appropriate venue for those inaugural awards, which recognised the achievements of public servants from right across Scotland in many, many different organisations. Indeed, Lockheed Martin was one of a number of companies who sponsored the awards, not the sole sponsor. Of course, Lockheed Martin is one of the largest public sector suppliers of IT systems. Question 4 is from Patrick Harvie. To ask the SPCB whether its practices comply with the open data strategy published by the Scottish Government and what action it will take to address the issues that it raises. I said to Patrick Harvie that we had a discussion at the corporate body as to whether the right usage was data or data. I decided to use whichever one Patrick Harvie didn't in the interests of fairness, so I'm going to talk about the open data strategy. Of course, that sets out that public sector organisations in Scotland should publish open data publication plans by the end of 2015, with all data sets being published as open data by 2017. I'm really pleased to be able to tell the chamber that, at of today, our first 60 data sets, including ones and questions, motions and petitions, have been published online, with more to be made available over the months ahead. We feel that we are on course to comply with the open data strategy well ahead of its deadline. Sticking with the Star Trek pronunciation personally, open data is incredibly important both in private and public sector organisations but where more so than a Parliament whose business is supposed to be transparent and accountable. One of the open data principles is about usability by all. Would it not make sense to ensure that the record of our official report links very clearly through to the video record of our proceedings to ensure maximum usability? If a person searches for a question, they should be able to easily click through and see the context in which it was asked, both in text and in video. One can always rely on Patrick Harvie to come up with a question that one has not had notice of from the officers who deal with it. Can I say that that sounds eminently sensible to me? I could tell from the reaction of my three SPCB colleagues that they felt the same. It seems quite straightforward to us but then again we are not the experts who have to deal with the issues on data, which I am assured by my colleague as the Latin. Therefore, yes, we will get back to the chamber on that one. If it is more difficult than it would seem, we will let you know the reasons why. Thank you very much and that concludes questions to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. We turn to the next item of business, which is a debate on motion number 13358, in the name of Shona Robison, on making progress on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol. I will allow a few moments for members to change places. Could I invite members who wish to speak in this debate to press the request to speak buttons now, please? Good afternoon everyone. Before we move to the next item of business, which is a debate on motion number 13358, in the name of Shona Robison, on making progress on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol. Can I remind members that, for the purposes of the Standing Order rule on subjudice, there should be no discussion in this debate about on-going legal proceedings in respect of minimum pricing? I refer members to advice issued yesterday on issues that should not be raised during this debate. Presiding officers will ask any member who makes reference to those issues to stop doing so. The Presiding officers will make full use of their powers if they consider any member is persistently preaching this rule. I now call on Shona Robison to speak to and move to motion. Cabinet Secretary, you have 14 minutes, so thereby please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Scotland's relationship with alcohol is something that has concerned the chamber deeply over the past decade and a half. Rightly so, we know that alcohol use is one of the top risk factors for non-communicable diseases. All too often, international comparisons place Scotland well behind the health curve of our European neighbours. I have called this debate today following very constructive cross-party discussions. I wish to enable a non-partisan collaborative conversation that reaches right across the chamber. The Scottish Government's strategy for changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol—a framework for action—has seen a good deal of progress since 2009. Much of that work remains on-going, but we simply cannot be complacent and must look to the next steps for action in the medium term. That is why I am commencing today our cross-parliamentary consideration on where next for alcohol. I welcome suggestions and look forward to substantive contributions from all participants. Our 2009 strategy was based largely on recommendations made by the world's leading authority on non-communicable disease prevention, the World Health Organization. Those World Health Organization priority actions are evidence-based and encourage countries worldwide to implement 10 priority measures on alcohol, including on pricing, availability, marketing and advertising, as well as drink driving policies, community action and health service programmes such as alcohol brief interventions. We are making good progress on the who recommendations and should all be proud that the Scottish approach fares so well against the who checklist. Indeed, just last month, another world-renowned body, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, published a report on the economics of tackling harmful alcohol use. OECD further validated the Scottish approach, advising that the most effective and economically prudent package should include fiscal and regulatory measures, healthcare interventions and a strategy combining healthcare and regulatory measures. It is clear that international experts feel that we are heading in the right direction, but we are not there yet by any means. There can be no dispute that one death associated with alcohol is one too many. Although there remains an average of around 700 hospital admissions and 20 deaths a week due to alcohol misuse, no morally responsible Government nor Parliament can rest easy. It is true to say that alcohol-related deaths have fallen by 35 per cent since 2003, and I welcome that, but alcohol-related deaths remain 1.4 times higher than they were in 1981, and that concerns me greatly. Furthermore, I am sure that every member will agree with me that the rise in alcohol-related deaths seen in the most recent data for 2013 is of great concern indeed. Although it is too early to know if the rise in deaths marks the beginning of an upward trend, we must be alert to the possibility that alcohol-related harm may increase once again as the economic climate improves. It is highly likely that declining affordability due to the economic downturn in recent years is responsible for a substantial proportion of the improvements that we have seen in the very recent years. That is why an effective pricing mechanism capable of responding to affordability is so very important, a view that is endorsed by WHO and the OECD. On pricing, of course, our European neighbours looked at us as pioneers, with many awaiting the outcome of the on-going minimum unit pricing litigation. Of course, we have the support of many, and I would like to thank them for all their efforts on this in so many areas—alcohol-focused Scotland, the Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, the BMA Scotland Euro Care and the many advisory bodies across Europe and member states who have shown their support on so many of our policies. We will wait and see, as the Deputy Presiding Officer said, that this is not the place for the debate on minimum unit pricing, and that will be determined in September. However, our framework for action goes much, much wider than that of minimum unit pricing. It contains over 40 measures that seek to firstly reduce consumption to support families and communities, to encourage more positive attitudes and positive choices, and to improve treatment and support services. We continue to take a whole population approach because alcohol use impacts people from every walk of life. Although it is true that heavy drinkers consume by far the greatest proportion of alcohol drunk in this country, the harms of alcohol use cannot be far ranging. Even relatively modest consumption patterns increase the risk of non-communicable diseases such as cardiac disease and cancer. Of course, harm to others can manifest in many ways from impacting upon parenting capacity to potentially serious alcohol-related violence. Our journey has seen great strides forward. Time constraints do not permit to go into every detail of a very significant progress made across the breadth of the strategy, so I want to highlight a few examples. First, our introduction of the quantity discount ban, which saw alcohol sales reduced by an estimated 2.6 per cent. We have legislated to ban irresponsible promotions. We have made a record investment of more than £278 million since 2008, of which £250 million has gone directly to the 30 alcohol and drug partnerships that we have established to meet local priorities. We introduced a lower drink drive limit last year, a move now being called for in other parts of the UK, which is already having promising results. We have improved substance misuse education through curriculum for excellence, being able to take that broad look across health and wellbeing. We have introduced a huge successful nationwide alcohol brief interventions programme, with more than 470,000 ABIs delivered to date. I want to touch on that for a moment. I am keen that we are able to get to the harder to reach consumers of alcohol through the programme. That is why we are doubling the capacity from this year for NHS boards to deliver ABIs in wider settings from 10 per cent to a 20 per cent quota. Health inequalities are one area that we need to focus on going forward. We have seen improvements in alcohol-related health inequalities in recent years, but death rates for those in the most deprived groups are still six times higher than in the least deprived groups. That is why we are placing a specific emphasis on tackling inequalities through ABI's work. We are also looking at how uptake can be facilitated in justice settings such as custody suites and prisons. I want to return briefly to education, because I am sure that there will be a consensus in this chamber that getting our messages right about alcohol is imperative. That is why I am very pleased to announce that this year the Scottish Government will develop a new social marketing campaign around parents and their role, particularly role models, in the run-up to early 2016. We must do all that we can to protect children and young people from exposure to alcohol-related harm. That is why the Air Weapons and License in Scotland Bill creates new offences of supplying alcohol to children or young people for consumption in a public place for filling a manifesto commitment. That is why I am sympathetic to the spirit of Richard Simpson's ideas around advertising and marketing, where he focuses on exposure of children to alcohol advertising, and I am sure that we will have a further post of discussion on that. The moral imperative is strong here, and I look forward to finding where there may be areas of parliamentary consensus. That brings me to one of the difficulties in taking a truly holistic approach to tackling alcohol-related harm. That is some of the limitations upon this Parliament being able to take action in some areas. Although powers on broadcast advertising remain reserved, we do not have the full levers at our disposal to protect children and young people from the more influential channels, such as television and increasingly digital platforms, including social media. The devolution of broadcast advertising was not among the recommendations to come out of the Smith commission process, nor was the consultation that this Government requested on alcohol duty rates. With the Chancellor's recent abolition of the duty escalator combined with cuts and freezes across various alcohol categories, which, in my view, only make alcohol more affordable, the case for the Scottish Government to have a say on UK alcohol duty has never been stronger. The devolution of weights and measured powers would also allow Scotland to further tailor our approach around serving sizes to complement the multi-buy discount ban. My intention is, in a positive and constructive way, to take those issues forward with the UK Government and hopefully try to arrive on some level of consensus that perhaps we can move forward on those issues on a UK basis. However, if not, Scotland has the appetite to move forward on those issues. The alcohol licensing regime, currently being further enhanced through the Air Weapons and Licensing Scotland Bill, already provides a robust locally led system for regulating the sale of alcohol. Local licensing boards are equipped to take decisions on licence applications that take full account of the public health objective that Scotland has enshrined in the licensing system. Our national alcohol charity, Alcohol Focus Scotland, has been working to empower local players to present robust evidence to local licensing board to support their consideration of applications for premises and to help tackle issues such as overprovision. I am pleased to confirm today additional funding to Alcohol Focus Scotland for a new post to assist in that. This October, Scotland has the great honour of hosting the prestigious Global Alcohol Policy Alliance conference with international experts coming together to share knowledge and build capacity around tackling alcohol-related harm. I very much look forward to engaging in constructive discussion at the conference about the latest thinking worldwide. I am sure that there will be ideas that we wish to capture for Scotland and perhaps ideas that others might want to take forward in the rest of the world. I expect the next phase of our alcohol strategy to be ready in early 2016. Over the coming months, I urge all members to reflect on the progress that we have made on the journey so far since our frameworks launch in 2009. I have laid out some of that here today, and I hope that there will be a consensus that that has been a good start. One of the things that the Parliament passed in 2009 was the potential for local authorities to undertake a social responsibility levy. The Government had to produce regulations for that, but it has been a decision of the Government not to enact that. That was one of the ideas that came forward. It is now in law, but it has not acted upon. I wonder why. The short answer to that is because of the economic considerations and the economic climate of the day. You have heard John Swinney respond to that point for that very reason because of the fragility of some of the businesses that would be involved. Obviously, we would want to keep under review. I hope that, as I said, there has been a large degree of consensus—not on all matters, but broadly—that progress has been good so far, but it has not certainly been alone from this Government. We have worked together with a whole range of partners, including the NHS, the police, third sector organisations and, indeed, the alcohol industry and players within the alcohol industry. There are many actions that must continue, and there will be new ideas that we want to pursue. The opportunity in this debate today is to begin to tease out where those areas may be and where there may be an area of consensus around those areas. However, I also urge you, just in closing, that everyone should be cognisant of the likely impact that the economic recession will have had on Scotland's alcohol-related harm statistics. The impact of such harms continues to be felt across our communities, and only a comprehensive, sustained and preventative approach proactively addressing those key who priorities can see us turn around our relationship with alcohol. That is not something that is going to happen overnight. We have now been working around this sustained alcohol strategy for over six years, but, even within that timeframe, it is not long enough to change Scotland's relationship and culture around alcohol and the way that we behave with alcohol. That is a generational issue, and one that is going to take much longer to begin to hopefully turn around into a more positive relationship with alcohol as we go forward. Hopefully, through my opening remarks today, I have been able to give you a flavour of where I think we are on the right track and what we would want to continue, but where this Government is very open to hearing ideas from all sides of the chamber and building a consensus about the next phase of the strategy that we would want to bring forward early next year, as we work on it over the next few months. I have a pleasure in moving the motion in my name, and I should say that I am also happy to accept the Labour amendment. I now call on Jenny Marra to speak to and move amendment 13358.1. Ms Marra, you have 10 minutes or thereby. Thank you very much indeed, Presiding Officer, and I thank the Scottish Government for bringing this very important debate to the chamber this afternoon. Presiding Officer, can I just say at the outset I respect to your initial remarks on the sub-dudacy issue, but I did want to say that I was confused as to why a sub-dudacy issue was then in a Government motion. My understanding is that Government motions set the parameters for the debate. I raised this with the clerks yesterday, and I was told that a sub-dudacy issue could be included in a Government motion for debate but could not be discussed. I accepted that explanation, and I am not sure that it is an explanation that I fully understand, but I just wanted to put that on the record. With that, I am happy to say that Labour benches will be supporting the Government's motion tonight, and I thank the cabinet secretary for accepting our amendment. I am sure that most of us, if not all of us in this chamber and beyond the walls of this Parliament, do not need to look very far in our own lives to see how alcohol can impact individuals, it impacts relationships, families, children, people's income, their work, their careers and their friendships. Today, we as a Parliament, the Scottish Government and politicians consider how public policy can reduce alcohol consumption to try to mitigate some of those effects on people's lives. The difficulty with that is that alcohol is legal, widely available and sociable, and in many ways a good thing. It is ultimately up to our own volition and ability if its consumption can be moderated. This is a very liberal argument. It is one that I think is at the very heart of this debate. That balance between restrictions through legislation and public policy and control of our own behaviours. What can be such a good thing in moderation, a libation, a social relaxant, a treat, an enjoyable reward for celebration and hard work, but the tipping point into it becoming a culture, then into a crux and something that no event or social occasion can be without, takes us to the place that, unfortunately, many of our communities are in Scotland where too many lives are lost and too many lives are impacted by its devastating consequences. We cannot be under any illusion just how damaging alcohol is to Scotland. The briefings today have been very helpful and they point out that in this country there are 20 deaths every week due to alcohol misuse. Deaths from liver cirrhosis in 2010 were around 40 per cent higher than the EU average. We drink almost a fifth more than our neighbours in England and Wales. Despite modest recent improvements, rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions in Scotland are over four times higher than they were in the early 1980s. A harmful drinking is not a problem unique to Scotland, but seeing our name right up top of the league tables on every measure of alcohol abuse is a deep stain on our image and pride in our country. I have touched on its social and human impact, but it is very important not to forget in this debate its effect on our economy and our ability to work and be productive. That must also be a crucial element of this debate, as well as the human cost and the health impact. We know that rebalancing Scotland's relationship with alcohol is a shared ambition across this Parliament, and there are a range of views on how we best achieve that and a lot of consensus. I acknowledge the Scottish Government's commitment to the issue, as we noted in the motion. It is difficult with no easy or simple solutions if we are to bring about that change of culture that we require. The ban on multi-buy discounts and the other measures highlighted by the cabinet secretary I am sure will have played a significant role in the recent fall in consumption, although economic downturn itself is acknowledged as another factor. We welcome some of the modest improvements that have been made. Scotland was the first country in the world to implement the long-established effectiveness of alcohol brief interventions into a national programme. The programme has outperformed its initial targets as an excellent commendation for the programme to be continued by the Scottish Government. The reduction in alcohol-related deaths among the most deprived people in Scotland signals a very small start to reducing health inequality, which we must welcome and fully support. On the 35 per cent fall since 2003 in alcohol-related deaths, that figure still leaves deaths 40 per cent higher than in the 1990s, according to the Scottish health action on alcohol-related problems. As the cabinet secretary said, the rise in alcohol-related deaths recently since 2013 is very concerning, but it does not challenge this overall downward trend. I also welcome the constructive way in which the Government has approached today's motion and the cabinet secretary's willingness to consider other additional measures. In that respect, I would hope that the Scottish Government would give consideration to the measures that are being put forward by my colleague Dr Richard Simpson in his member's bill, given his undoubted expertise and passion for the subject. Presiding Officer, if I may, I will take you briefly through some of the proposals in Richard Simpson's bill, as I do not want to leave it just to the closing speeches, as I would like some of those issues to be debated today. In a whole range of areas, in alcohol advertising, retailing and in licensing laws, and in how we rehabilitate offenders with alcohol problems, the bill has some very constructive proposals. Packaging up multipacks and selling them off so that each unit is cheaper encourages heavier drinking, and there are proposals here. Restricting alcohol marketing, especially where children may be exposed. That is within the scope of the current Scotland Act to do that in public areas on billboards, bus shelters and public transport. I noted the cabinet secretary's initial comments that broadcasting is reserved to Westminster, but I am sure that, with the increase in representation that her party has recently enjoyed in Westminster, it can make the case along with our colleagues there, too. Restrictions on caffeinated alcohol, taking to establish a legal limit of 150mg per litre of caffeine, of premixed alcoholic drinks, based on the limit in Denmark applying to the retail of such products only, not an outright ban but a restriction. That is one of the proposals in Richard Simpson's bill also. Alcohol education, which I know the cabinet secretary feels strongly about, requiring the Scottish Government to publish a programme of public alcohol education and undertaking to evaluate its effects and report to Parliament on its successes. Another idea in Richard Simpson's bill is a presumption against discrimination against 18-21 year olds in off-sale premises. Community consultation to adopt an approach similar to New Zealand whereby the neighbourhood is consulted and must have their views taken into account by the licensing board when issuing or renewing or extending a licence. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will be aware of that example. It may sound overly bureaucratic, but there was a situation in our home city of Dundee recently where the health board objected to the application for a local cafe to sell alcohol. The community's councils voices were not part of the process, so perhaps a community consultative approach, as Dr Simpson has proposed, would be a more inclusive and constructive way of engaging the community in licensing decisions as proposed, rather than simply having a process where organisations and individuals can lodge objections directly to the licensing board. That was some of the proposals that were based in Labour and Richard Simpson's bill, but I hope that they will be discussed at greater length during the debate. We know that Scotland is changing, and I believe that our relationship with alcohol is changing, too. We would be silly to deny that the macho culture of hard drinking still exists in our communities, and much of it is ingrained in our identity and is still celebrated and joked about in an unhealthy way. However, there is no doubt in my strong senses that people today, especially young people, have a greater awareness of their health and a stronger desire to live healthier lives. They have an understanding that too much alcohol is not compatible with that. In time, I think, our health service and our justice system will see the benefit of that, but we must do much, much more to make sure that that trend is ingrained and does continue, particularly with our NHS, as the pressure on our doctors and nurses grows every day. Our ambition for a healthier Scotland, for people from all backgrounds educated and empowered to make better decisions with healthy bodies and healthy minds is one that we should be working towards every day of this Parliament. Tackling harmful drinking is a big part of that, so we can look at the progress over recent years and take some comfort while also recognising the long, long way that we still have to go. I move the amendment in my name. I have pointed out before that Scotland's very sharp deterioration in its relationship with alcohol in terms of hospital admission rates and alcohol deaths can be traced back to the end of 1990 when, by coincidence, Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street. Whether that led to rejoicing in the streets, a binge party from which Scots never recovered, or whether, in fact, it was that Scots were consumed by grief at her departure, it nonetheless is a fact that the very sharp deterioration in our relationship with alcohol from that point onwards is measurable. Before members of the SNP get too excited to draw a conclusion one way or the other, it is also the case that the improvement in hospital-related admissions and deaths began when Alex Salmond came to office. Whether that was because people no longer felt like rejoicing on the streets and had given up on life, I do not know. Those small improvements that we have seen are to be celebrated, but I do not know if we can be complacent as to what might have underpinned that change in trend to which I will return. I thank the cabinet secretary for holding the debate this afternoon. I did say in a question not so long ago that it was two years since we had passed minimum unit pricing and two years since we had last debated the subjects in the chamber. The First Minister got a bit excited. I did not mean by that to criticise the on-going work that was being done. During the course of that debate, it was underpinned by a determination that we needed to understand and address the relationship between Scotland and alcohol, and that needs a sustained and continuing debate in the chamber. That legislation was passed really in the salad days of this Parliament, if I can call it that. We have a chance to look at the issue again today for which I am grateful. There have been improvements, some maybe not so obvious. In 2013, we had twice the vodka off sales in Scotland of any other part of the United Kingdom, so we still have trends that we might not wish to celebrate. As Jenny Marra and the minister herself said, consumption versus the 1980s is still at twice the rate of France, Portugal, Spain and another country that I have written down incorrectly, which is very helpful. It is four times the rate of hospital admissions that we saw in the 1980s. I acknowledge the work that has been done in the measures, the improvement as a result of the alcohol framework, the fact that we have seen a 2.5 per cent reduction in off-trade sales, and the better investment in treatment and care and alcohol brief interventions. It is also the case that deterioration in our relationship with alcohol on another graph can be directly compared to the affordability of alcohol over the same period. In the findings from monitoring and evaluating Scotland's alcohol strategy fourth annual report in December last year, I was struck by this paragraph that the declining affordability of alcohol due to the economic downturn and associated policy contacts across Great Britain in recent years is responsible for a substantial portion of those improvements. However, the ban on quantity discounting of alcohol and the increased number of ABIs delivered are likely to be contributing to the improvements that have been seen in Scotland. Changing knowledge and attitudes around alcohol are unlikely to be responsible for the recent declines. We still have a huge job to do, I think, in the whole identification of culture. Young people are drinking less, according to the— Accepting the report of Miesas that she has correctly alluded to, nevertheless the decline in deaths began in 2003, which was a time of minimum unemployment—the best unemployment that we have seen figures since we have seen in the 1960s. That should be greeted with some caution. The report itself does, in fact, acknowledge the point that Dr Simpson makes, but, nonetheless, if the increase was directly attributable to affordability, it may be that part of the downturn in the last few years may have an issue related in part to affordability as well. As I said, there has been a reduction in the number of young people drinking. We have seen, as the cabinet secretary said, a reduction as a result of the new alcohol limit imposed in relation to driving. Although I would be interested if the minister could comment on what I have heard some people say anecdotally, which is that there was a reduction in the number of people who were stopped and breathalysed over the winter period immediately last year as a result of extended leave being taken because of additional work patterns during the Commonwealth Games. I do not know whether that is true or not, but I hope that it is not, because I hope that the legislation that has been passed has contributed in that way. Have a look at that, but I get the sense anecdotally, which would need to be a little the evidence base for, and I am sure that that will exist, that people are just not taking the risk anymore. I think that that does change the culture. I hope that that is very much the case, and I hope that the figures that we have seen which are encouraging in one year are sustained going forward. If successful are employed across the rest of the United Kingdom too, the principal challenge is therefore our own culture and on hospital admissions to try and reduce the burden on the NHS. I thought that what Simon Stevens had to say yesterday was very interesting, because it touches on something that Hugh Henry, Duncan MacNeill and others have said, and that is the need for people to become more responsible about understanding the relationship that they have with their own healthcare going forward. I think that if people are now going to understand that they could live much longer lives, potentially into great old age, I think that we have to begin an education process at a much earlier stage where we identify to people that the quality of that life in the last 30 years can be dramatically compromised by the decisions and the ways in which we interact with our own health at an earlier stage. I think that our health education policy is to isolate our understanding of particular actions that we can take without necessarily trying to incentivise people, since the health service can never not treat people, but without trying to incentivise people to understand that the quality of life that they can ultimately enjoy will be dramatically affected by the decisions that they take. We need to start demonstrating particularly to people who are not necessarily addicted in a sense to alcohol but who simply over a sustained basis drink too much without properly understanding the issues for the cirrhosis of the liver that may materialise in later middle age, the effects that that could have. I will have more to say in summing up at the moment that I am happy to support the motion and also the amendment in the name of the Labour Party. We now move to open debate. I call on Jim Eadie to be followed by Hugh Henry, six minutes or thereby. We have a little time in hand for interventions today. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It is indeed a pleasure if not a source of rejoicing to follow Jackson Carlaw, whose insight and wit was on characteristic display this afternoon. It is self-evident, Presiding Officer, that alcohol is an integral part of Scottish life. The Scottish beer and pub sector alone accounts for around 5,000 pubs and over 80 breweries across Scotland, supporting over 60,000 jobs and contributing over £1.5 billion to the Scottish economy. That is before we take into account the white spirits industry and the fact that we are renowned across the globe for our most famous export whiskey. So our relationship with alcohol is economic, as well as being part of the social and cultural life of Scotland. However, alcohol misuse is far too prevalent across our society, and despite the Scottish Government publishing its comprehensive framework for action on tackling alcohol abuse in 2009 and introducing measures in recent years to help to rebalance our relationship with alcohol, the fact remains that alcohol-related harm remains a major feature of Scottish society. We see that in the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions in Scotland, which have quadrupled since the 1980s. We see it, as the cabinet secretary said, in the number of alcohol-related deaths, which are 1.4 times higher than in the early 1980s. We see it in the fact, as Jenny Marra highlighted, that, as a nation, we drink almost one-fifth more than our counterparts in England and Wales. I mentioned the economic benefits of alcohol, but there is also an economic cost and loss of productivity through sickness. Alcohol misuse is costing Scotland £3.6 billion each year, £900 for every adult in Scotland. Behind those statistics lie many human stories of heavy drinking, causing premature death of alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder, played out in the accident and emergency departments of our major hospitals every weekend, and of family breakdown. While in this Parliament we are rightly focused on legislation, on strategies and policies, we should never lose sight of the fact that this issue is one that affects directly thousands of individuals and communities across Scotland. This week, I had the privilege of hosting an exhibition in the member's lobby, and only last evening I hosted an event in the Parliament. The theme of the exhibition and the event was to highlight an innovative and important project that afforded people affected by alcohol-related harm, the opportunity to document their daily lives, environment and recovery through the use of photo voice, a technique using photographic art and narrative. That was a collaboration involving the University of Edinburgh, the National Galleries of Scotland, Rowan Allaba and the Serenity cafe, and was supported by NHS Lothian and Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems. I was delighted, Presiding Officer, that you were able to support that event as well. I would like to welcome to the gallery this afternoon Dr Asha Holloway and Dr Sarah Rhinas of the University of Edinburgh, and I thank them for bringing the voices, stories and pictures of people affected by alcohol to our Parliament. I would like to highlight this afternoon two specific areas in which the Scottish Government is taking steps to positively change our relationship with alcohol, reducing drink driving offences and protecting children and young people from alcohol advertising. Since the introduction of a lower drink driving limit in December last year, the figures that were released last week by Police Scotland showed that the number of drink driving offences fell by 17 per cent between January and March this year, compared to the same period last year. Fewer drink driving offences show that we in Scotland are leading social and legislative change in the United Kingdom on this matter, which was recently reflected by the Police Federation of England and Wales, which last week issued a call for the legal limit in England and Wales to be in line with Scotland on this matter. However, it is important that we continue to build on these promising early figures for the rest of this year and beyond. Last week's launch of the Scottish Government and Road Safety Scotland's Summer Drink Drive campaign Don't Spoil Summer will remind drivers that getting behind the wheel after even one drink is not worth the risk or the potential life-changing consequences. Evidence shows that even one alcoholic drink before driving makes you three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident, and it is estimated that one in eight deaths on our roads involve drivers who are over the legal limit. The director of Road Safety Scotland, Michael McDonald, reinforced this point when he stated that the best advice is just don't risk it. Continuing to campaign on drink driving and raising public awareness of its dangers and consequences will hopefully serve to further reduce offences and the impact it can have on victims, those behind the wheel and their families. Looking ahead, a culture change in our relationship with alcohol would benefit not only those who are currently affected by alcohol misuse but also our young people and future generations. There are currently widespread concerns across the health sector over the impact that alcohol adverts have on our young people. Although current regulations prevent alcohol advertising around children's programmes, alcohol adverts are still permitted during early evening family viewing during which many children are watching television. I was very struck by something that Dr Asher Holloway said in her presentation at the event in Parliament yesterday evening when she said that alcohol is visible everywhere. That is certainly what the research tells us. It should be of concern to all of us that a survey recently published by Alcohol Focus Scotland highlighted the fact that 10 and 11-year-olds were more familiar with alcohol brands than leading brands of crisps and ice cream. This is nothing short of a scandal and underlines the fact that children and young people are not being adequately enough protected from potential alcohol harm. I welcome the call by our Minister for Public Health to the UK Government to ban alcohol advertising before the 9pm watershed. I am pleased as well that the British Medical Association has highlighted the dangers of alcohol advertising and has supported that ban. I believe that it is important today to reinforce the message that Scotland is not an anti-alcohol nation but an anti-alcohol abuse nation. We have a positive relationship in terms of the economic value that alcohol brings to Scotland, the jobs and the industry that it supports and the enjoyment that moderate responsible drinking can provide. However, alcohol abuse remains far too prevalent and widespread an issue in Scotland today. We should be encouraged by the legislation such as minimum unit pricing, the efforts to reduce the drink driving limit have had in order to improve and rebalance our relationship with alcohol and we should very much pay tribute to the contribution of alcohol and drug partnerships across the country as well as the work undertaken by the third sector, the NHS and Police Scotland. We can build on the progress that has been made to date. We should support families and communities affected by alcohol across Scotland and we can bring about the positive change that we all want to see if we unite as a Parliament and a country to bring about that change. Thank you very much. I was struck by one of the comments that Jim Eadie made that Scotland is not an anti-alcohol nation but an anti-alcohol abuse nation. That chimed very neatly with the comments made by the cabinet secretary because she was right to point out the efforts that have been made to tackle alcohol abuse and to look at some of the successes that we have had in tackling alcohol abuse. It is also right, as she and others have done, to put that into a context because while we have made progress as a society, our record compared to other countries is still a shocking one. It struck me when I read the briefing from the BMA just how bad some of those figures are that, over the last 30 years—not just in Scotland but UK liver cirrhosis mortality had risen by over 450 per cent across the population and that Scotland had now one of the highest mortality rates in Western Europe. As Jackson Carlaw said, we cannot be complacent in this, although we should retain a sense of realism and perspective. One of the things that we sometimes do is blur the lines of distinction when we talk about alcohol. We classify it too easily. Everybody is just being the same. That is not necessarily always the case. Part of the issue is not about an anti-alcohol nation. We use terminology in our everyday language. We hear it on radio and on TV that a good night out is associated with consuming huge amounts of alcohol, and that is just accepted. We do not distinguish—that is what I mean by blur the lines—when we talk in those terms between those who abuse alcohol and those who consume alcohol and drink too much. Jackson Carlaw described drinking too much on a particular night out, because it is easy to look at those who have an alcohol problem at very evident and we see all the associated difficulties and I want to come back to that. However, one of the challenges that we have as a society is dealing with those that Jackson Carlaw was referring to—those who are not classified as necessarily an alcoholic or someone with an alcohol problem, but whose consumption of alcohol sporadically throughout the year can lead to longer-term problems. I think that one of the danger groups at risk in this is people who are better educated and who have access to better incomes. I do not want this to appear just as being sexist, but particularly to young women who now have the economic wear with all and purchasing power that, in years gone by, they may not have had. I see that in my own family and social circles that you now see young women on specific nights out and occasions drinking far more than my mother's generation would ever have contemplated in drinking, certainly. I thank the members to take an intervention. I thought about that as well and I looked at the figures and, funny enough, if you look at the 15-year-old figures, boys and girls are drinking the same amount and they've been drinking the same amount of alcohol for many, many years. The only difference is they're not drinking the same alcohol. Girls are more likely to drink spirits and alcohol pops than when we were introduced in the 1990s and the boys are more likely to drink cider or to drink beer. On consumption of alcohol, there is no great difference between boys and girls, so we'll have to reflect on that. We've got to be very careful when we talk about both. I'll give you a little extra time, Mr Hind. Actually, that, in a sense, just proves what I'm saying. When I think back—again, I'll use my mother's generation—the alcohol consumption figures weren't the same for male and female. They were much less for female compared to male. The fact that women are now drinking at those levels brings more women into the risk categories than in the past, because I can think generationally and my own family that it was the men who were always the ones with the alcohol problems that had the tendency to abuse the alcohol that spent more on alcohol. However, if we allow ourselves as a society to have young women and young people in general to think that, because they've got money in their pocket and they're not an alcoholic, that they can have those episodes where they abuse alcohol, then there are the longer term health risks, the longer term dangers associated with that. Actually, I spent more time on that than I intended because I wanted to talk about some of the justice and the antisocial behaviour issues associated with alcohol, because there is a huge cost to our society of excessive alcohol consumption. We see the public disorder issues in many of our towns and cities, particularly at weekends. It's not just that it's on the streets, we see the damage when they end up in hospital and the pressure that it puts on accident and emergency. We still have an issue that we need to address that public disorder. Excessive consumption in towns and cities is completely and utterly unacceptable. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to play in that. That's not just one that we should leave for the police. I want to particularly ask either the cabinet secretary or whichever minister is responding. What information do they have on the community payback orders? I know that, in the past, Richard Simpson and others were talking about extending the drug treatment and testing orders to alcohol. The suggestion was that that was not necessary, because those payback orders would do the same job. I would be interested to know just how effective they have been. What are the statistics? How well are they working and whether there are any issues surrounding the drug treatment and testing orders that we can learn when we apply that to alcohol? This is a multifaceted problem that we have. It's not one merely for our doctors and nurses, it's not one for our police officers. As Jackson Carlaw and others have said, it's a matter of education and we all have a role to play there. Equally, we shouldn't treat lightly the consequences, not just of binge drinking but the consequences of continued and constant drinking, albeit within safe levels. Some of the evidence shows that that can have significant long-term damage. I believe that the title of the debate is central to the issue of tackling alcohol abuse. That is Scotland's relationship with alcohol. Many people are reluctant to discuss the relationship with alcohol at all. Perhaps they are worried that, if they admit that they are drinking too much, they will be labelled as an alcoholic. I use that language quite deliberately. Labelled, alcoholism still comes with a stigma. Calling someone an alkie or a jakey, if it was other forms of drug abuse, it would be a junkie. We have to move away from that type of unhelpful and stigmatising language. Clearly, it's unhelpful and it means that those who have significant problems are also far less likely to come forward to have them supported in dealing with them. However, our relationship with alcohol is also contradictory. Perhaps it is best captured in the go on, have a drink, not a maffit sketch from chewing the fat. We stigmatise those who have significant problems with alcohol. We are suspicious of those who don't partake of a drink just to be social, of course. That contradiction is a key part of the debate and Scotland's relationship with alcohol—not our addiction to, but our relationship with alcohol. In that context, I want to look at one or two themes this afternoon. We have already heard about alcohol brief interventions, and I think that that should be viewed in that strategy as well. Some of the numbers around that—477,000 alcohol brief interventions exceeding targets set by the Government—has been successful. It has targeted at over 16 people who are suspected to be drinking at hazardous and harmful levels, hoping that they will moderate their intake. The evidence shows that they will reduce their intake for a short time, at least. That gives health benefits, even if they only reduce their intake for a short time. It will have long-term benefits, but, of course, we have to do better at those brief interventions having a short-term benefit and how we get that connectivity to changing someone's relationship with alcohol in the longer term. That comes down to education. We lump it all and say, let's do more in schools. I think that it's about education in the family and the workplace. I think that it's about education before you go to your football match and, after you come back, or education when you go to a family wedding reception. It's about discussing openly and honestly our relationship with alcohol. Yes, we should do it in schools, but we can't just be put at schools. We've all got our own personal and community responsibilities in relation to that. I'd like to mention to a group who does a wonderful job in terms of community responsibilities. It's a while since I've done this now, but I did walk a Friday night in the streets of Glasgow with the street pastors. What an amazing and wonderful job they did, particularly, I have to say, helping vulnerable young women in the city centre, not to lecture them in their alcohol intake, just to offer a pair of flip-flops rather than high heels if they have too much to drink, not to stop them to go on to the next bar if they have too much to drink, but just to let them know if they needed a wee hand getting a taxi home or a wee half hour out they were there. Just a bit of friendship and I just want to put on record the amazing, amazing job that I saw the street pastors do when I was out with them. We have made some progress—I want to mention one or two of the statistics around some of the progress that we have made. Alcohol-related hospital discharge rates have reduced by 20 per cent since 2007, but they are still 3.4 times higher than in 1981 and 1982. Unlike Jackson Carlaw, I won't relate that to the then Conservative Government, but the point that I am raising here is that we have to look at over a significantly long period of time so that we can even outshort term but non-enduring impacts in relation to the success that we make. Also, alcohol-related mortality has fallen by 35 per cent since its peak in 2003. I won't list through a number of successes that we've had because I think that we admit that as welcoming as those successes are, they have to be long-term and they have to be enduring. I'll tell you one that I think will be long-term and enduring. That was the multi-pack band for buying alcohol. The quantity discount band found that there was a 2.6 per cent decrease in sales of that type of alcohol more generally. We were able to quality assure that because what we did is we compared similar areas in England to Scotland who didn't implement that band. When you compare it, there is still a 2.6 per cent drop in intake. Access to alcohol has been seen as a cheap option bargain, which I'm guilty of. If I'm in the supermarket and I see a nice bottle of wine, I go, oh, that's down to a fibre. I'll have that if it's nine quid. I won't do that. I have to say and I won't give details because we're not allowed to. We looked in detail at price sensitivity across all income groups in relation to minimum pricing and affordability. That information is on the record without me repeating it here this afternoon. I just want to say one thing in concluding. Yesterday, in the chamber, I asked Michael Matheson, the justice secretary, if he would consider using cashback monies to tackle health inequalities from 2017. He said that he would give that significant consideration following my intervention. When you look at health inequalities and the effect of alcohol on communities, I can't think of a better use of the money. I hope that the Scottish Government policy might just develop in that area. I'm very pleased to participate in this debate. Having sat on the committee for a number of years, the issue of tackling Scotland's relationship with alcohol was one that I was heavily engaged in. Although I am no longer a member of the committee, it's an issue that remains very much on my own agenda. I come to this debate as someone who does not actually drink alcohol, and I've been a non-drinker my whole life. While that's not actually quite true, I once got drunk in Greece after sampling a local drink called ritsina. Yes, it was certainly a very nice drink, however I failed to heed the warnings from my friends that it was a very potent triple. However, I was drinking to taste, not for the effect, and not being accustomed to alcohol, my constitution couldn't handle the effects. Would I drink ritsina again? Should I return to Greece? Well, yes. I'm sure I would, as I love the people, but I'll take ritsina very cautiously in the future. I have no hang-ups with people who enjoy a drink. In fact, I believe what my mother taught me a long ago and that is a little about what your fans say does you good. Drinking moderation is my advice. Enjoy it, and I believe that a little alcohol can actually be beneficial to you, but be aware of the danger of excessive drinking, the excess of what I call the Scottish disease. From looking at the stats, it's clear when it comes to the misuse and overuse of alcohol that there are significant problems that urgently need to tackle. If it's not something that we want to address for ourselves, surely we have a responsibility to sort it out for our young people. We need to make the step change right now for them to appreciate that not taking up the habit is much easier than giving up the habit. I have, or should I say, had some very close friends, some of whom had enormous elements, particularly in the arts, but who could not function without drinking alcohol right up until they could not function in the art world at all due to their lines, which ultimately led to their graves. What a loss and what tragedy, not only for they themselves but for their families and for society as a whole. I am sure that I am not alone in this chamber of experiencing such tragic circumstances. I recognise that kicking a habit is not easy whether it is drugs, alcohol, smoking, gambling or even food. If it was that easy, the highly talented and intelligent people who I knew would not have succumbed to the addiction in the first place. On the other hand, with good support, if accepted—and that is important—if accepted by those who need it, combined with determination, things can surely turn for the best. When I was very young, my father was an extremely heavy drinker, just like so many of his generation. He was certainly a great man without the drink, but Mr Hyde was with it. He woke up one day and decided not to stop drinking. Yes, he would still certainly have an odd beer, but it would only be one, and he never sunk back to his earlier excesses. The benefits to him as an individual were immense. His appearance, his mood and his manner changed. He was a new man, but the benefits for my family and particularly my mother were life-changing. We were a happy family, not wealthy, but what we had was then well spent. This story is one that a number of people can relate to, but sadly too many can not, as they have never experienced the positive change that could happen. The stats for Scotland, when compared to nearly every developed country in the world, sadly back the situation up, and no one can argue that change is not needed. Scotland consumes huge levels of alcohol. In 2010, recorded consumption was twice the world average and well above the European regional average. That is having a detrimental and impact on the health of our people. Indeed, Scotland's overall death rate from liver cellulosis in 2010 was around 40 per cent higher than the EU average. I am really pleased that the Scottish Government has not sat by, but it has been aggressively engaged in tackling this problem head on. Policies such as a ban on quality discounts and off-sales that encourage customers to buy more than they might have done, plus the implementation of restrictions on where materials promoting alcohol may be displayed are having a positive impact. More must be done, and the Scottish Government's framework for action outlines that in detail. Urgent change is required if we are to break our country's relationship with alcohol, and I commend the motion to the Parliament and to the Labour amendment. Scotland's problems with alcohol are deep-rooted. The statistics demonstrate this, and I imagine—I am referred to today—the lived experiences of everyone contributing to this debate show that too, but that does not mean that we can simply shrug our shoulders and accept it. I am pleased that there is cross-party support for tackling Scotland's alcohol problem. The British Medical Association has described Britain's relationship with alcohol as an epidemic. The BMA has outlined the scale of the problem in Scotland. Alcohol is related to more than 60 types of disease, disability and injury. More than a million people in Scotland are drinking hazardously or harmfully, and over the past 30 years, UK liver cirrhosis mortality has risen over 450 per cent across the population. When I saw that figure as I was sitting waiting to speak, I thought, can that be right? I have checked it in the papers, and it is right. That is a stunning figure, 450 per cent. The BMA further notes that, in recent years, the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions has fallen, although they remain higher than in the rest of the UK and Europe. However, it also notes that alcohol-related hospital admissions are approximately six to seven times higher for patients living in the most deprived areas compared with those living in the least deprived areas. When faced with that, there is often a rush to create new offences and new regulations. When we see a problem, we understandably want to try to tackle it. However, before looking to manufacture new rules, we should always make sure that the current ones are enforced. As Francis Ennis, an expert on licensing law at the respected law firm Princeton Masons, has explained, one of the main problems with the Scottish licensing system is not the lack of appropriate legislation. If the vast majority of existing legislation was properly funded and implemented, then there would be little need for additional provisions. Alcohol misuse is not something that can simply be corrected by new statutes or improved enforcement. It is often a function of the shocking absence of life chances for many people. It is no accident that there is a relationship between alcohol misuse and poverty, and it is critical that we change our approach to one of early intervention, health awareness and community-based support, but all of that costs money. My colleague Richard Simpson raised earlier that the Government's failure to act on having a social responsibility levy sounds like a good idea to me, and it could be a way to enable the many groups rightly praised in the motion to take more action on alcohol-related problems in Scotland. Moreover, Dr Richard Simpson's bill before this Parliament contains many common sense provisions. Increasingly, the amount of time that a statutory notice for a new alcohol licence has made public is a sensible provision. The same can be said for imposing a statutory duty on the Scottish Government to update and report on its alcohol strategy. The idea at the heart of the bill, namely that there will be drinking, banning orders, taking in GPs and other professionals to help those who have a problem with alcohol, is a sort of bold measure that we need to seriously tackle our alcohol problem. It is a multi-sexual approach, with criminal justice professionals, social workers and the medical profession working together, and that will yield the best results. The Fife Alcohol Fixed Penalty Diversion Scheme, which has been running as part of the Fife Alcohol Support Service based in Kirkcaldy, started as a pilot scheme in 2011, and Dr Simpson's bill takes much from that. I hope that the bill is given proper consideration by this Parliament. In Fife, there has been some great work aimed at tackling alcohol misuse. For both drug and alcohol use, there has been £250,000 of funding from Fife Council for residential rehabilitation. Although that is not a new concept, it is new money that was secured when my colleague Alec Riley was council leader. It is a relatively small project, with 16 people benefiting last year, nine of whom had difficulties with alcohol. However, those are people who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to get the comprehensive and intensive access to rehab afforded by this investment. It also recognises that many people who abuse alcohol also abuse other substances. It is a more holistic approach than many others. The Scottish Drugs Forum addiction worker training programme, which the alcohol and drug partnership and Fife Council jointly fund in Fife, is an initiative that is open to people recovering from alcohol or drug problems. It allows them to train for a career in social care, with particular emphasis on substance misuse services. It provides people with real workplace-based training as an opportunity to achieve SvQ level 2 in social care. It launched over a decade ago and is aimed at helping former drug and alcohol users to prepare for employment in social care through in-work placements and formal learning. AWTP is the first project in Scotland to offer former drug and alcohol users the opportunity to gain supportive work experience and a qualification while receiving a wage for the duration of the course. It develops a multi-agency approach to employability for former substance users. Those schemes are grounded in their communities and they strike the correct balance between supporting those who misuse alcohol and assuring that the community is protected from the negative consequences of such misuse. I believe that they should be looked at closely by the Scottish Government. I agree with the alcohol-focused Scotland that creating health-promoting communities where citizens play an active role through ensuring that a licensing system supports meaningful community involvement and is accountable and responsive to the community that it serves. That is not an easy task. It will necessitate cultural changes across Scotland, in families, schools, colleges, universities and beyond. The Parliament can only do so much to encourage people to make the necessary changes. We must refocus our efforts to tackle Scotland's problematic relationship with alcohol. The work that has been done in Fife and across Scotland, conducted largely by local authorities, charities and voluntary organisations, is beginning to show results. We must work collaboratively with them and the public themselves to take the steps that are needed to sort out Scotland's relationship with alcohol. I thank the cabinet secretary and the Scottish Government for bringing that debate today. That motion talks about Scotland's relationship with alcohol. I think that it is much more than that. As somebody who came to this country 30 years ago, I was shocked when I came here. I was shocked to see that the relationship with Scotland has with alcohol. We can't find it anywhere in other countries. We have this attitude of alcohol which is absolutely different than in any other countries, believe me. We talked about countries who are producing alcohol. France is one of the countries who produce a lot of alcohol. But yet again, we are not drinking in France the same way that we are drinking here in Scotland. That's the first point which is very important. That relationship that Scotland has with alcohol is very, very different from any kind of relationship. I would like to take it a bit further because we talked about a relationship with alcohol for many, many years. I want to talk about what we can do as individuals, what we can do about our relationship with people who have a problem with alcohol. And these people are among us. These people are us. Sometimes it's us. Sometimes it's us who have a problem with alcohol. One night, one week, at any time, when we were young, when we were older, when we feel a little bit isolated. So we are all at risk. It's not a factor to thinking. And I know a lot of my colleagues talk about education. But we know this week, more than any week, a reminder that politicians with all the knowledge, with all the education, with all the understanding can still be caught in it. And God, a lot of them are caught in it. You know, if you go down to Westminster and here, even in this parliament, we caught in it. So it's not only about policies and we are doing great policies and we've got them there. But it's not responsibility only of the government or some said the responsibility of people who drink or abuse alcohol, who don't drink with moderation. I don't like that tone, not drinking with moderation. You know, for a lot of people in France, in Scotland, all over the world, it's not such a thing than drinking moderation. Some people cannot drink alcohol at all. So we can blame them for the disturbance they give. We can blame them for the money we are spending on the NHS. Or we can see what we can do ourselves. What we can do as individual. And we have to divert into this. It's a society problem. We've got a government who's doing fantastic things. We're going to do a lot of things. But as a society, as individual, we need to change our attitude. Not only our attitude of alcohol, our attitude with people who've got an alcohol problem. We can't let it go. We are far too often the alcohol bodies, the drinking bodies, the one who facilitate, who help somebody else. Or sometimes it's a contrary. As I said, we are the one who ended up in a bad state, ended up in peril because of the alcohol we drink. Because you had bodies around us who thought it was a good idea. So I don't want to target women as well because we talked about women. And by all means, what did we expect? Of course equality is coming. Of course women, we're having the same opportunity at work, the same opportunity money wise as well. Everybody has got a lot more money in the pocket. Of course is going to affect both gender. And I'm not sure yet if women is worse for women than for men because men are still drinking a lot apart from the fact that women have decided to go more especially young women into alcohol pubs, into spirits as well. So I really wanted to start with it. What I would like to talk about is drink driving as well. I was in the Justice Committee when we introduced the drink driving limit. That drink driving limit, of course we had to it. I have no understanding why a country like ours ended up with a drink driving limit, which was higher than it was in other countries who didn't have the same problem of alcohol. One of the reasons was because it's reserved to Westminster and we managed to get that with some very much constructive negotiation with Westminster. I would encourage the Cabinet Secretary and the Minister when closing to keep on that construction dialogue with Westminster to address all the issues that we haven't got the power with. But I'm delighted that the changes it did in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and More, in the North East, the region I represent, we had a fell by more than 23% of people caught on the driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. That makes a big difference. But the biggest difference in all this is that people stopped drinking during the week and that is a fantastic changing of attitude. In fact, this legislation that we brought forward, which was a drink driving, I call it more a drink living, meaning that we changed the way we lived because we know it was very important to go and drive every morning to work. We decided that we have to change the way we live. So if we can find other ideas like this to change our attitude to alcohol, not only the people who have that problem with alcohol, because we all have to a certain extent, even the people who don't drink, we need to have that understanding that a part of the population will have a problem with alcohol. What I would like to talk about, of course as well, is the idea that drink driving living, drink drive limit, it's important to have it as well for others than drivers of cars. I did suggest that we could have asking Westminster to have lonely drivers and bus drivers as well, having a lower limit than we have just now, but we need to ask Westminster, so that would be a point which is important as well. To a certain extent, England and Wales are drinking a lot less than we are, especially the young people. Even if our young people are doing better than they used to do, they are still behind regarding the consumption of alcohol that young people in Wales and in England. The police in Wales and the Federation of Police in England and Wales are called for the legal limit in England and Wales to be in line with Scotland, so that's good news, but we are groundbreaking and we are finding those ways to help us. But business is our responsibility. In February last year, this year, I was delighted to see the Albert Hotel in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, who has begun to stock an extensive range of alcohol-free beers and wine, and that may bring me back to what we can do. I was surprised last night. I was at that event from Jimmy Lee with the people who worked fantastically well and wherever, and I would suggest that you should go to see that photo exhibition. You can go to Serenity, the Little Cafe, which is at Jackson and Try. You just opposite the SNP headquarters if you want to know what it is, and that's a fantastic work that we have done. But when we finished that event last night, I came down and I was next to the bar of the parliament and there was an advertisement for a beverage called Hi-Hong, which is the new alcohol-free lager, which is a fantastic name if you think about it. But what really annoyed me was that despite that sign which was right in front of the bar, when I had finished to work late at night and I came down and I asked the people behind the bar how many did you sell, when did you start, and they started two days ago to sell this fantastic Hi-Hong beer. I'll let you guess how many of this alcohol-free lager was drunk. Hi-Hong! And this is the problem. All we can do, or the regulation we can have, and the Scottish Government is doing fantastic, if we don't do anything about it as individuals, the result will be Hi-Hong. Jackson Carlaw is shaking his head and it's called Hi-Hong, which means Hi-Hong alcohol, so I thought I'd explain that. I saw you shaking your head, Jackson, in that respect. I must admit that it certainly was offered to me but I don't drink lagers. Whether it was Hi-Hong or not, I didn't accept it. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I thank the members for the contributions. I think that they've all been excellent and they've covered a great many areas from alcohol intervention by NHS Scotland, record investment in tackling alcohol misduse, and the setting up of alcohol and drug partnerships. However, as mentioned by a number of members, the average of 20 alcohol-related deaths a week, 700 alcohol-related hospital admissions each week, it really is totally unacceptable. It shows that we still have a very long way to go. I realise, and I'm sure that we all realise, that this is not a quick, fixed solution. It will take a long time and it's a change of culture that we have in this country, unfortunately, in our relationship with alcohol. I agree with you, Henry, that one of the points that he makes regarding young women, certainly living in the city centre of Glasgow, unfortunately, I do see a lot more young women partaking of, maybe more alcohol than they would partake, but also one of the issues that I agree with with you, Henry, is that we're talking about alcohol abuse and alcoholics, but there are people who have long-term drink problems who are not deemed as alcoholics and have to go through their life in that respect. Obviously, that has an impact not just on the economy but on their work but on their families as well, and they basically just go through their lives with a terrible problem. I do welcome the cabinet secretary's announcement of the social marketing campaign, aimed at educating parents, and I would echo your comments, cabinet secretary, in regard to advertising, particularly to young people, and aimed at young people, and would urge the Westminster Government to devolve broadcasting to the Scottish Parliament. I do thank Jenny Marra, when she mentioned the fact that the SNP success in Westminster returning 56 MPs would, I hope, deliver that to the Scottish Parliament. We also have to look at issues that Jackson Carlaw raised about how cheap alcohol is now compared to many years ago. It's far too cheap. Young people will go into supermarkets, which is one of the ones that minimum pricing has to look at. Young people will go into supermarkets, as are other people, but what I hear from pubs and clubs is that young people overtake of the cheaper drink from supermarkets before they actually go into the pubs and the clubs, and they can see by the figures that they can, yes, take an intervention. Jenny Marra, thank the member for giving way. If I can just clarify it, I don't think that her reflection of the point that I made was completely accurate. I think that what I was saying was that the new group of representatives at Westminster would be able to lobby the Government for changes in advertising and broadcasting. It's my belief, I'm sure that it's hers too, that perhaps changes in alcohol advertising through broadcasting would benefit people across the United Kingdom and not just in Scotland. Sandra White I absolutely agree with Jenny Marra. I think that I took on board what you said. It's just a slight interpretation of it, but absolutely. What I did mention was the fact that we've 56 more than ever had before. We'll make a big difference if we're making a difference just now, but I do agree that it's not just in Scotland, it's throughout the UK, but unfortunately we can't put that through our TV screens as well. As I said before about the cheapness of alcohol, I think that's something that we do need to look at. As has been mentioned before, the minimum pricing has to be looked at also. I do want to concentrate more on the human aspect and the human cost of alcohol abuse, whether it's been an alcoholic or a long-term heavy drinker, and the human cost to that. Jim Beattie had the excellent event last night. I wasn't able to go there, but I went to the stall and I saw the people here in the gallery. The Serenity cafe does a fantastic amount of work, lots and lots of that going throughout the constituencies as well. Everyone's constituency, in my constituency, we have a party healthy living centre that runs nights without alcohol. I want to give you an example of how welcome it is to run film nights, music nights and club nights. I'm delighted that one of them said to me that she had not been out with her partner or husband for many, many years because she couldn't go out to a pub simply because her husband had a drink problem. For once, she would have been able to go to a club night and enjoy the music there. That's something really, really positive that came out of that in that respect. Another area where I think we have to look at—I know that Serenity cafe has done some work in this and has had addiction in my own areas in Vincent Crescent. When I spoke to people there, one gentleman obviously won't name the people there, but one gentleman who did have a drink problem and basically was able to come off the alcohol but stayed in the same environment. Previous to that, he had lots and lots of friends who obviously liked to drink and would go to each other's houses. He had to let them in his house or he didn't have his friends, and what he did one particular night when they came round was lock himself in the bathroom because, if he didn't, he would succumb to the alcohol again. I think that we have to look at that in the aspect of social care and healthcare, where if someone marries to get off the alcohol addiction, if they are kept in the same environment with the same people, it is very difficult for them to get away from that. It is something that perhaps everyone has experienced in regards to their constituents. Another issue is that a lady who unfortunately had an alcohol problem ended up not very well at all. Very successful businesswomen lost her house, lost her business, lost her family and grandchildren. I think that we have all got those aspects of our constituents, and it is a terrible, terrible issue of alcohol. We do need to take it seriously. That debate has mentioned a number of things, but the human cost of alcohol, not just of the economy and the facts and figures that are going about here, for them, the people who are affected by alcohol addiction and their family is absolutely tremendous. It is something that we have to tackle, and it is the cultural aspect of here in Scotland. Something that we need to look at in education is somewhere that we have to put forward from young to old, but education is certainly something that perhaps it has been mentioned before. It is an advertising campaign to show the harms of alcohol and what effect it can have on families. I thank everyone very much for their contributions, and I thank the Government for bringing that forward. I look forward to moving on and releasing some of the negative aspects of the cultural love affair that Scotland has with alcohol. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Many thanks. I now call Anne McTaggart to be followed by Dave Thomson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this to be as alcohol is an on-going matter that is of great concern to many of all our constituents. Alcohol misuse is its consequence for health and community safety. It remains a significant challenge not only in Scotland but throughout the UK. We all know how important relationships are. They are central to our lives and are so very important to our wellbeing. We have to look at our country's relationship with alcohol, and I am sure that we can all very much agree that it is a relationship that is severely harming health and wellbeing, affecting our communities and undermining our potential as a nation of individuals. The people of Scotland have the ability and ambition to lead in plenty of aspects of global affairs, but the current alcohol statistics in Scotland leave us nothing to be proud of. The levels of alcohol consumption in Scotland have reduced since 2009, however. The level of alcohol sales remains higher than they were in 1994. Scotland's consumption of alcohol was twice the world's average in 2010 and well above the European regional average. The alcohol-related hospital admissions in Scotland are four times higher than they were in the early 1980s. That is on average 700 hospital admissions, as well as 20 deaths that are directly related to alcohol each year. Young people are under a lot of pressure to start drinking at a young age. Alcohol today is so affordable, available and heavily marketed. As a result, young people are growing up in a pro-alcohol society. We are drinking as is seen as the norm, and therefore we should begin by denormalising alcohol for children and teenagers. Experimenting with alcohol is a phase that many go through, but the age at which young people start experimenting is younger than our European partners, as well as much more. As a mother of three children, two of which are teenagers, I cautionally welcome the data from the Scottish adolescent lifestyle substance use survey, which reports a substantial reduction in alcohol consumption among young people since 2010. The survey shows that 19 per cent of 15-year-olds reported that they had drank alcohol in the last week, which was down from 34 per cent in 2010 and 4 per cent of 13-year-olds, which was down from 44 per cent in 2010. That is still a staggering and worrying statistic, which needs to be addressed so that we can move forward without alcohol being a huge component of young people's lives in Scotland. It is our underlying duty to help anyone who has an issue with alcohol, but we need to implement tougher measures, as well as more education on the issues to our young people, so that we can break the cycle at a young age, as that is where the problems start. Teenage drinking can have immediate and long-term health problems, with most of the admissions of teenagers into hospital resulting from alcohol consumption. While that is the immediate impact, heavy regular drinking in younger years leads to the development of chronic diseases such as liver cirrhosis. That is something that has to change, as if we do not make substantial attempts at condoning that behaviour. We will be left with a chronically ill young adult population. The earlier teenagers are exposed to alcohol, the more likely they are to face challenges in later years. Therefore, we need to address the problem at the root and provide more support and education in schools on the harmful side effects of alcohol consumption. For a long time, there have also been concerns about the possible effects on children's attitudes towards alcohol, which exposure to alcohol advertising might have. I believe that, alongside the BMA, we should restrict the advertising of alcohol drinks. In particular, alcohol advertising should be banned near places used by children, such as schools and at events that are targeted at children in order to reduce that exposure. In conclusion, alcohol consumption in Scotland cannot go on at the current rate. The strain that alcohol puts on public services is costly and time consuming, and if we could work together to safeguard our population from alcohol, then we would have fewer alcohol-related challenges. There are members across all political parties determined to tackle Scotland's drink problem, however, in order to be successful, a shift in Scotland's culture is essential and we need to contribute to delivering that change right away. I now call Dave Thompson, who will be followed by Mary Fee. Scotland's relationship with alcohol is as well known an issue as it is a complex one. In Scotland, we drink far more than we did a generation ago, and alcohol consumption is almost a fifth higher than the rest of the UK. I accept that drinking in moderation can have beneficial effects for some people, however, heavy drinking places a burden on society. It does not just damage health and cause premature death but also contributes to crime and disorder. Binge drinking, particularly among youngsters aged between 18 and 30 on a Friday and Saturday night, remains a problem, and there is an economic cost to our unhealthy relationship with alcohol, including a loss of productivity through sickness. Alcohol misuse is costing Scotland £3.6 billion each year. To put that in perspective, that is £900 for every adult in our country. I recognise the progress that we have made on tackling alcohol misuse in Scotland and the impact of the Scottish Government's comprehensive 2009 strategy, changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol, a framework for action. The framework contains a range of measures, including education support for families and communities and preventative public health measures, together with minimum unit pricing and other regulatory measures on issues such as irresponsible promotion of alcohol. It is not all bad where our youngsters are concerned. The Scottish adolescent lifestyle substance use survey in 2013 informs us that 13 to 15-year-olds are consuming less alcohol on a weekly basis compared to 2010 and are at their lowest since records began in 1990. Many young people, living with someone with an alcohol problem, take on additional caring responsibilities within the family unit, which can be detrimental to their life opportunities. That is often under-reported or undisclosed to those outside of the home. In order to engage with young people, the Scottish families, affected by alcohol and drugs group, have adopted a range of consultative measures involving workshops and prevalence studies, which involve attempting to challenge social stigma as a barrier to accessing support, changing social attitudes towards drinking, supporting those living in remote and rural communities and assisting with training and resources. As mentioned by other members, we could not have a debate on Scotland's relationship with alcohol without mentioning the alcohol minimum pricing Scotland Act 2012, which was passed unopposed by this Parliament in June 2012. It is hoped that the Government framework, which is being developed in relation to alcohol, will breed the cultural changes that are required to positively affect Scotland's relationship with alcohol. Other measures have shown that this can be done, and the lowering of the drink driving limit, which has already been mentioned in December last year, a campaign that I was heavily involved in has led to many people leaving their cars at home when they go out or not drinking alcohol if they do take the car. Following the introduction of the new law, figures from Police Scotland showed that the number of motorists caught drink driving in Scotland during the first festive period dropped by almost a third on the previous year. I hope that Jackson Carlaw's earlier comments on that are incorrect. As the motion states, it is wholly unacceptable that there is an average of 20 alcohol-related deaths and 700 alcohol-related hospital admissions each week in Scotland. Further, Scotland now has one of the highest cirrhosis mortality rates in Western Europe and is ranked eighth in the world for alcohol consumption per head of population. We all have a role to play in tackling this scourge, and we must continue the good work and the progress that has already been made. I am too total. I have not drunk alcohol for nearly 15 years. I was born and brought up in a place called Lossymouth, a fishing town, many very heavy drinking fishermen in that town, many very religious fishermen who did not drink at all. In my early 20s, I moved to Stornoway, and you will all have heard about the Gaelic mod, which is also known as the Husky Olympics. I started drinking when I was a young age, and over many years I developed from pints of beer to whisky and so on. I was probably a pretty typical young man in the Highlands who tended to go out on a Friday night, and you would drink Friday night, you would drink Saturday. You often would not drink on a Sunday, but by the time Monday came quite often you would have a bit of a hangover, and you would not really be 100%. Drinking is something that creeps up on people. It is an illness. It is something that very gradually takes a hold of people, and sometimes many of us have to look at our lives and look at what we are doing and think, is this something that I want to carry on doing? I took the decision. I was helped greatly after I became a Christian, and I would say without hesitation that, if it was not for God, I probably would have still been drinking. It was the best thing I ever did. It has changed my life. I had a very successful career. I was doing everything very well, but at the weekends just drinking more than was good for me, and more than was good for the people around about me. This is something that I feel very passionately about. We have to help people who have an alcohol problem. Our society at the moment does not help young people who start drinking and who go on to the flavoured alcoholic drinks, the alcohol pops and all those other things that are available these days. It draws them in far too quickly. It is like drinking lemonade. When I started drinking, you had to get used to the taste of the gin rum, vodka husky or beer or lager. Anything that we can do to improve this situation has to be good. We will need many different measures in order to deal with this problem. I am very pleased that this chamber this afternoon is going to come together and vote as one in relation to the motion and amendment to help us to tackle the scourge of alcohol. Thank you very much. I now call Mary Fee to be followed by James Dornan. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate today. I have listened with great interest to the contributors from across the chamber this afternoon. I want to focus most of my contribution on the personal impact of alcohol dependency and misuse. Scotland is currently ranked eighth in the world for alcohol consumption per head of population. According to the British Medical Association, more than 1 million people in Scotland drink hazardously or harmfully. Scotland now has one of the highest cirrhosis mortality rates in Western Europe. Indeed, every 15 minutes, someone in Scotland is hospitalised with an alcohol related illness, which means that nine people have been hospitalised with an alcohol related illness during this debate. Nine people are now in hospital because of alcohol this afternoon alone. Scotland has a problem with alcohol. It cannot be denied and it must be tackled. With the cost of binge drinking estimated to be £4.9 billion across the UK and an average cost of £114 per A and E visit, we must direct additional resources towards education and prevention. The results of the Scottish social attitudes survey in 2013 reveal just how uninformed many people in Scotland still are concerning the amount of alcohol that they are consuming. One-third of those questioned did not know what the daily guideline for alcohol consumption was for men and women. A further quarter got the daily guideline wrong. We must ensure that people are fully informed and educated on the effects and dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. Indeed, one danger that is long been identified is the link between alcohol and crime. In 2012, the Scottish consortium for Crime and Criminal Justice found that 62 per cent of violent crime victims stated that their attackers were under the influence of alcohol. Furthermore, half of Scottish prisoners state that they were drunk at the time of committing their offence. Offenders are a particular concern, as they are three times more likely than the general Scottish population, to have an alcohol problem. That is an issue that must be tackled. We must do all that we can to ensure that offenders do not end up with an alcohol dependency after their release from prison. Tackling alcohol dependency is crucial, not only because it affects the individual but because it also affects their family and friends. We have to take a more inclusive approach to helping individuals who suffer from alcohol abuse. Research by Scottish families affected by alcohol and drugs outlines the many benefits of involving families in their relatives' treatment and recovery. First, it increases the likelihood that an individual will enter treatment and remain in treatment longer. Secondly, it increases the likelihood that the individual receiving treatment will receive their goals, both during and after rehabilitation. Finally, it improves the general wellbeing of family members by creating an environment where an individual in recovery is less likely to return to alcohol dependency. It is imperative that we take the appropriate action to ensure that family members are given the correct level of support in their own right to help with their relatives' addiction. Average weekly consumption of harmful drinkers is considerably higher in Scotland's lowest income communities compared with the rest of the country, and it is in our deprived communities where most harm is experienced. Many across the chamber will know that I spent 20 years working in retail. It was in retail that I witnessed the struggles of alcohol addiction and misuse faced by many customers on a daily basis. For example, if a customer did not have enough money to pay for basic food items, it was a frequent occurrence that they would return the essential food items before they would return cans of lager, lager, cider or their bottle of vodka. On a daily basis, people were picking alcohol over essential food, and we all know the phrase, eating or eating, but for many in society it is eating or drinking. We regularly saw people waiting for the alcohol aisle to open in the morning so that they could purchase their first drink of the day. That serves as a reminder that every day, people in every community, the length and breadth of this country face struggles with alcohol dependency, and that is why it is crucial that we must change the way that we view alcohol and face up to the size of the challenge that it is. The final issue that I would like to raise is the important issue of abuse faced by retail staff. Again, from my time working in retail, I have first-hand experience of the kinds of abuse front-line workers receive on a daily basis from customers with alcohol problems. Across the UK, there are 2.7 million retail workers who regularly deal with abuse and violence, and while I accept that not all of it is caused by alcohol, the vast majority of violence and abuse in shops is caused by alcohol. Shop workers deal with abuse, threats, harassment and violence for simply upholding the law and refusing to sell alcohol to people who are already intoxicated. My union has led on this issue with the freedom from fear campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against retail staff and annually have a respect for shop workers week. Alcohol affects almost everyone in society. For too long, some in Scotland have viewed people with alcohol problems as affable individuals who do no harm to anyone. Without taking into account the harm that is being done to the individual, their families and society as a whole, we need a fundamental change in Scotland's relationship with alcohol and we need it now. I stopped drinking about 20 years ago and I stopped for a number of reasons that I didn't like the person that alcohol sometimes made me, although many of my friends did. I recognised that physically I was struggling to cope with the aftermath of a typical Saturday night session and I realised even at around 40 years of age that unless I stopped drinking, I'd never achieved my full potential. I have no doubt that I wouldn't have become a politician and would be speaking in this chamber if I was still drinking. It took me almost two years from the time that I decided to stop to actually stop. Do you know what held me back? What was the hardest part of giving up drink? Not going to you total, not the change that drink can make to you, sometimes good, sometimes less so. It was the social pressure to continue to drink. You weren't seen as one of the lads if you didn't drink, that you think you're better than us. Attitude was still prepared back then, but I have no doubt that if I was in the same situation now, I'd have found it much easier to give it up. Thankfully society has moved on. It's much more socially acceptable to be a non-drinker and we're all better for it. You don't have to put up with, come on, just of one, won't do you any harm, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't an alcoholic, I could have taken a drink and left it, but I knew that it was not doing me as a person any good, and it wasn't helping me in trying to create the life that I wanted to create for myself, and this was at nearly 40 years of age. I've heard stories from early speakers, I just heard from Mary Fee there about the damage that's done to retail workers. My partner is a nurse and now she works in neonatal, but she used to work in accident emergency, and she tells me that there's never been a shift that she was on in accident emergency where she didn't get some kind of verbal or physical abuse, almost without fail from somebody who's drunk. Sometimes somebody that's in drugs, but almost without fail somebody who's been drinking. As the cabinet secretary said earlier on, there's no room for complacency, but we do spend £3.5 billion every year in direct and indirect costs related to misuse of alcohol. We need to get our figure down, but we must do it through continuing to change our relationship to alcohol at a societal level whilst ensuring that we continue to support those affected by alcohol misuse. We know that misuse doesn't just affect an individual but also families and friends, as well as local communities. It continues to be a concern that there's still a huge difference between hospitalisation and discharge rates because of alcohol misuse between the most and least deprived areas in Scotland. That is a knock-on effect in those communities, including most prominently with anti-social behaviour related to drunkenness, being at general vandalism, anti-social neighbours or creating an unsafe environment for people on a Friday and Saturday night. There can't be one MSP in the chamber who hasn't had to deal with people coming to complain about the anti-social behaviour of neighbours because of their drinking. Tackling alcohol misuse at a community level is also key to changing our relationship with alcohol. We've heard a lot today about fantastic organisations working across the country to help folk who have that problematic relationship with alcohol to get appropriate support and help the need in their local community. I want to talk about one FAS, which is Families Affected by Drug and Alcohol Abuse. It's a confidential service. It works in my constituency but also across Glasgow. It works to help families affected by alcohol or drug abuses, as you would expect from the title. It offers support, counselling advice and information to parents, spouses, partners and adult family members who, due to their loved ones' alcohol or drug problems, are feeling the negative impact that this has on them. I went to visit them and they have a quote. What happens is that each family member gets the opportunity to participate in putting something on to that quote. The stories on that quote would break your heart. They are done by the families who have lost a son, a daughter, a sister, a husband, a father or whatever. One family had three squares on that quote because they had lost three members of their family to drugs and alcohol. They offer support to kinship carers, the support that is most practical, such as helping them to get to the right level of access, assisting with paperwork and working with their partners Giza Break to offer respite. They also run a clothing project that started in 2008 and has gone from strength to strength. The original idea was to help kinship carers with clothing items for children who are put into care at short notice because many of those families are affected in such a way that there is just one trigger. There might be an alcohol problem for some time, but there is just one trigger that brings the services in, and those children have to be protected or else, unfortunately, there is some kind of death in the family or hospitalisation, which means that the children have to be taken elsewhere, usually to a grandparent to be looked after. The service has grown over the years and has now fast offered support to their adult children as well. FAS is one of the many organisations support groups working across my constituency and the City of Glasgow to help people with a difficult relationship with alcohol. Finally, one of the most recent ways that the Scottish Government is taking a lead on alcohol is through lowering the drink-driving limit, which has been mentioned a number of times today. That will undoubtedly save lives, and it appears that it has already done so. Mr Donan, could I stop you a minute? I am going to ask Labour's front bench if they could listen to the last bit of your speech. Thank you, James Donan. Absolutely shocked and disappointed. I cannot remember where I was. That will undoubtedly save lives, but it also goes to show that a shift in our thoughts about drink can change. I am of the generation that used to think that drink-driving was okay. It was not uncommon for people drinking at house parties to think that nothing of driving home despite their condition. I shudder when I think back to the number of times as a young man in the work cars, when I was a young man, when I got to run home or were driven to a party by someone who now you would recognise was clearly over a limit. That is quite rightly not socially acceptable now. The introduction of the legislation, which has taken us in line with the rest of Europe, has had an impact. Since the introduction of the new lower drink drive, the limit that we have heard has been a 17 per cent reduction in defences. It is a positive story for Scotland showing that we are leading the way again with social and legislative change in the UK. The Police Federation of England in Wales has recently asked for a legal limit in England in Wales to fall in line with Scotland, and given the impact that it has had in such a short period of time here, I hope that it is something that they consider. The new lower drink driving limit shows that legislative changes can have a positive impact on changing attitudes to drink. The other legislative changes that we are looking to make, including on minimum pricing, could have the same impact. Because we are all in this together, there will not be a person in Scotland that has not in some way been affected by alcohol misuse, either directly or indirectly. It is incumbent on us all to do what we can to change this country's relationship with alcohol through changing legislation, challenging attitudes and supporting people and organisations, the police and the NHS who deal day in and day out with the effects of alcohol in our society. It is not inevitable that Scotland has to have this relationship, and we can and will and must change it. Many thanks, and now we turn to the closing speeches under Colin Jackson Carlaw up to seven minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I begin by assuring Mr Dornan that there's been no chatter between colleagues on the Conservative front bench during this race? We have been unanimous in our attention to his speech this afternoon. It has actually been the debate that I think I very much wanted to hear, and there are four points that I would like to come to. The first is actually in relation to the Labour amendment. Some of my more free market and libertarian colleagues were somewhat concerned that it was a thinly disguised attack on the retail industry, and I had to perish the thought that such a thing could ever be emerged from the Labour benches, but I said no not to be concerned about that, but I do want to make the point that initiatives like challenge 25, for example, did actually emerge from within the retail industry itself. A lot can be achieved not just by resorting to legislation but by working with other parties to try and bring forward measures that are going to assist the situation. The second point that I want to touch on was the one that Jim Eadie developed in his speech, which again talked about the change in drink driving that has occurred. I posited the slight concern that it might have been that resource issues last Christmas and New Year meant that fewer people were being stopped. I hope that the figures are sustained and proved me wrong over the longer term, but of course the most important thing will not just be the number of people who are stopped and are proved positive when breathalyzed, but that there is a reduction in the number of road accidents and fatalities, which of course have been a cause not by somebody just over the limit very often but by people who were serially drinking. If it does dissuade those people from taking that risk, I think that we will be able to say that this legislation had led to one of the genuine changes in the culture of people's approach to alcohol. Dr Simpson might be interested in the fact that some of the United States states that have breathalyzer locks on cars of people who have been previously convicted, and they cannot drive their car without actually ensuring that they are below the limit or absent of alcohol. I am grateful for that information. At this point, I just say, and this was the only surreal moment of the afternoon for me, but a Frenchman who was repeatedly saying, he ho, he ho, he ho into the microphone really did leave me as I think both Bob Doris and Sandra White saw bewildered. As I looked for the berry and onions thinking that there was some huge stereo typical performance going on, suddenly it was explained to me that this is the name of a non-alcoholic drink, so I was not one that I knew nothing about, but I am grateful for being explained. The third point that I want to make comes back to the culture because I enjoyed most the contributions that were starting to address the way in which Scotland deals with the cultural relationship that we have with alcohol. As someone who came from the motor industry, cars used to have a relatively short shelf life. If people had a car that was 100,000 miles in the clock, it was regarded as something of a dangerous old banger that ought to be scrapped. The car that I am driving now has got something like 120,000 miles in the clock. Car lifespans have been expanded, but they have been expanded through the careful care and maintenance of the vehicle over a long period of time in order that people can have that extended life of the motor vehicle. In that sense, human beings are no different. If we are going to enjoy much longer life and we want there to be equality to that longer life, then not just on alcohol but on tobacco, on obesity, on all the other preventative conditions, we need to find a way to have the public engage more directly with our health. Given the billions that it costs, we should consider whether the chief medical officer should not be involved in any more direct dialogue with households trying to point out through the education that we discuss. Bob Doris said that education, education, education are much like a politician somewhere else at a previous time, but it was not clear to me what that education consists of. We need to try and have people understand that if we are not going to deny them treatment, which none of us believe is the right approach, we need to get them to understand what they do and the effect it will have on their lives as they go forward. It is not just as we would like a universal GP-attached health visiting service. It is about the whole-of-life education of people to make sure that they have a more direct responsibility and therefore a longer and healthier life. The final point that I want to touch on, which I did not discuss in my first contribution, is on hospital admissions. Of the 40,000 discharges that were alcohol-related from hospital, 92 per cent of them were through accident emergency. We know that accident emergency departments are under considerable pressure. We know that there is an ageing demographic that is presenting at accident emergency, and if we cannot help to bring down the number of alcohol admissions at A&E, we are simply compounding again what could be an avoidable problem. That is why I have discussed with the cabinet secretary before and commend the safe zone initiative that has taken place in Edinburgh, which is a safe zone bus on a Friday and Saturday night, near the Omni centre in Edinburgh. It has seen 1,300 people. 60 per cent of those referred to them were done so by Police Scotland, and of those 42 per cent would otherwise have been an accident and emergency admission. Therefore, accident and emergency admissions that were avoided are similar bus schemes in other cities, but they are a bit piecemeal. Their funding is a little bit haphazard. If we want to look at a preventative measure that might not only ensure that some people get home safely later in the evening—which I think is one of the things that Mr Doris talked about in a slightly different context—but if we want to try to head off what might be otherwise an avoidable entry to accident and emergency, then initiatives such as the safe zone bus are things that we should perhaps, as I say, given the billions that we otherwise spend, be prepared to invest in, not just a couple of nights a week but more regularly when the occasion demands, particularly seasonally, to try and help to reduce the number of people that present in accident and emergency. It has been a very energising debate this afternoon. We have talked some about the particular complicated relationships that some have had with alcohol. Those have underpinned many of the actions and initiatives that led, in fact, to minimum unit pricing being passed by this Parliament, which we hope will find its place in due course. However, it is this relationship, this fundamental relationship that is not just about alcohol but is about all of those preventative conditions that a generation ago did not have the same impact and cost on our health service or the same impact and cost on human life, which, if we cannot find a way to get people to engage with more directly on a personal and an individual basis, we are going to find not only overwhelming our health service but fundamentally undermining the quality of life that many might hope to expect if that life is indeed longer than it previously was. I would like to start by reminding the chamber that this is not the first time that Scotland and indeed the UK have faced an alcohol tidal wave, or epidemic as the BMA call it. It is actually the third time. We have actually got through the previous two waves and we must hope that the decline that many members have referred to in the number of deaths, hospital admissions and other statistics that have begun to occur in 2003 and have continued with slight variation since is the beginning of the end of this wave. However, as all the members have agreed today, it will not happen without our continued effort as a Parliament. It will not happen without our continued effort as a society. The prevalence that has been referred to is, I think, importance. There are 138,000 plus or minus 10,000 or 15,000 individuals in Scotland who are alcohol dependent. That is a huge sum, a huge number. As Mary Fee said, some of these will actually choose food over alcohol when they are assessing their weekly shop. I want to talk about just one thing that has not really been covered that well, and that is the question of data collection. Those figures are approximations. Miesas, I think, does a good job for us in terms of analysing what is happening with alcohol in Scotland. However, we need to be clear about the data collection. One of the areas that we have got the opportunity to do this in is the new IT system called DAISY, which is being developed as we speak by ISD in a working group. That must look at things, as we said the other week in the debate on caring. It must look at, for example, the role of young carers who are looking after people in families with alcohol problems. It must look at the effect upon families and children and how they are affected. 50,000 to 58,000 children in Scotland will be affected by alcohol. We know from the WHO that the two things that will address an alcohol problem best in terms of what a Government or a Parliament can do are price and availability. When I was the justice minister in 2001 and we got the Nicholson commission set up, which led to the licensing act of 2005, that was designed to address availability. It brought in the public health requirement and it brought in protecting children as a requirement for licensing. The effect has been that there has been some measure of control on licensing but, as alcohol focus and others have said, there has been very patchy and we need to address that much more clearly. 96 per cent of all licenses are accepted, that is too many. If 40 per cent more licenses are granted in areas of deprivation where we know that there are alcohol problems, that must be addressed and we must find a mechanism for ensuring that our licensing boards have the power, the authority and the money to go to court for when people apply for licenses and they are very wealthy some of these supermarkets, they will challenge in the courts and councils do not have the money to oppose them, so we need to be sure of that. What is happening in our society, the figures have already been addressed by many members and that is very welcome, but I think that some of the important things in terms of cultural change are actually reflected in the Salsa's report, which Anne McTaggart quoted from. 19 per cent of 15-year-olds reported that they drunk alcohol on the last week, down from 34 per cent in 2010. 4 per cent of 13-year-olds reported that they drunk alcohol on the last week, down from 44 per cent. That is a big change and it hopefully reflects a change in attitude in the next generation. Maybe the education system is beginning to work but we have got a lot of pupils in the chamber today and I am not allowed to ask them, but I would love to be able to ask them, do they feel the education that they are getting is worthwhile? Because when we introduced it when I was the minister, I was being told by young people from the young Parliament, which we set up, that the education was ineffective. It was a bit like sex education if you were off that day, you missed it. That is not good enough and we must ensure that we actually deal with that. One thing that has not been mentioned today is social norms, which has been studied widely in America and which research has been done in the United Kingdom and in Scotland now on. I wonder whether the social marketing programme that the Government announced today will actually look at whether social norms tackling young adolescents in terms of how they perceive their peers drinking is actually going to be embodied in that. There is no doubt that the biggest influence on one's drinking as an adolescent is what is happening around you, but it is what you perceive as happening around you that is important, not the reality. That is what social norms research shows. Jackson Carlaw referred to older people and said that it was not just about investment in your pension but its investment in the quality of your life as you go forward. That is really very important. As Jane Baxter said, there are cancer and many other conditions that are caused by alcohol but also by smoking, by being overweight and having the wrong diet. That investment in lifestyle is something that we really do have to encourage, but we have to tell people before they get there that that investment is necessary now. We are bringing about changes, as I have said. Hazardous drinking, for example, appears to have declined since 2003 from 33 per cent to 22 per cent in men, 23 per cent to 16 per cent in women. That is excellent. The binge drinking in 16 to 24-year-olds has also gone down, partly due to challenge 25, which the industry has brought in. The industry has a role to play. I do not deny that. We need to be in partnership with them, but we need to recognise that what they are trying to do is to sell as much of their product as they can and to make as much profit as they can. We need to sup with a slightly longer spoon than we would in some other instances. However, what they are doing is excellent. They have promoted the community alcohol partnerships, for example, which started in England and are now happening in Scotland. That is very welcome. They have supported the Drink Aware programme, the Serve Right programme, the best bar none programme. There are lots of those programmes out there that I would want the social responsibility levy that this Parliament has passed to raise the funds for the local authorities to encourage those things to happen. The economy is now improving. The time has come for that to be enacted. We should not delay. I have time, Presiding Officer, to go into all aspects of my bill, but I want to talk a little bit just about one or two bits of it. Before I do, I want to deal with one or two other things that we have. The alcohol brief interventions, the first national programme in the world, are excellent, but, as one of the speakers said, we need to look at outcomes as well as the short-term effects. We are, I have to say, as a Parliament and I am retiring next year and I may get the chance of a valid actuary address, but it will say again and again that this Parliament is far too preoccupied with process. It is not sufficiently preoccupied with outcomes. ABBI is good. There is an evidence base for it. It is right that we should bring it in, but we must also look at what the longer-term effects of it are. I believe that it needs to be focused, as the cabinet secretary said in her speech today. We are going to put more money into other venues for that to be addressed. Accident and emergency reports indicate that they are very difficult and that there are big challenges about getting the culture changed there, even in recording people who repeatedly attend with alcohol problems. That should be fundamental. It should happen. In the 1990s, I was on the chief scientist committee when we funded a programme to put mental health nurses into accident and emergency as a scientific project. It was successful. Today, talking to Derek Bell, who works in London and is chairman of the academy of medical academy in Scotland now, he said that in England he has, in his A&E unit, he has an addiction worker in the A&E unit. When somebody comes in with an alcohol problem, it is addressed. There are other venues, rest referral. We have it in five out of eight sheriffdoms. Why is it not in all eight sheriffdoms? To do it in custody and make sure that people are picked up and addressed. We certainly need to look at our specialist services. We have a good record internationally in the number coming to treatment, about 38,000 out of the 138,000 are in treatment. However, there are problems in that area, for example, related to alcohol-related brain damage. That is an area of high cost to the health service. When people get to the stage of being admitted to the gastroenterology unit with hematemises bleeding as a result of their drinking, it is almost too late. However, when I did a study in Livingston and St John's, they had 11 different case records for these individuals. There was no co-ordination, and those people, as I say, are very expensive. I am grateful to all the members who have referred to my bill. I hope that people will look at that and look at the things that we are doing. I will finish by saying just three brief things. Mary Fee rightly called for family support. Gil Paterson's story about his family was an excellent personal testimony. Sandra White was right to draw attention to the need for community report beyond the immediate recovery. Can I finish by joining Jim Eadie, who said that we must welcome recovery and promote those who have recovered as models for those who are actually seeking to this? We are in the beginning of change. We need to work together to achieve it. I thank all members for their contributions. I have listened to the range of views that are expressed across the chamber. While we may not agree on everything, I believe that there is genuine scope for consensus on a topic that continues to affect our nation so profoundly. Most members mentioned Scotland's relationship with drink. As many said, we are not an anti-alcohol nation. Many members recognised alcohol's contribution to the economy of Scotland, but we are very much a nation against alcohol abuse. Many members told us about their experiences, such as Christian Allard, Dave Thompson, Mary Fee, James Dornan and others. None of us wishes to see the types of harm that can be associated with alcohol impacting on individuals, on their families or on the communities. Our work on protecting children and on tackling alcohol-related violence must continue. That is why the cashback for communities—the £75 million that is spent on diversionary activities—is most important. I would like to mention the Lloyd's partnership drugs initiative, which, just a minute, the alcohol-related close links to ADPs. Over since 2001, Lloyd's contributed £21 million to that and the Government's £700,000. I was going to mention your CPOs. I welcome your question, Mr Henry, about community payback orders. They are very much a robust and credible alternative to custodial sentences. They facilitate the payback to the communities, but at the same time they are underlying and addressing the causes of offending. They are not a soft option. They have been proven to work. Individuals released from a custodial sentence of six months or less are reconvicted more than twice as often as those given CPOs. There have been 18,600 CPOs since commenced in 2013-14 compared to 16,100 in the previous year. I was even at a meeting today where offending among young people is dramatically declining. It has been unpaid work, amounting to some 1.8 million hours, which has been imposed on offenders for their offence, but paying back to the communities. I hope that the member is pleased as I am about that. Jimine Eadie mentioned photo voice, which was on last night in the Parliament and the Serenity Café. I began with a brief reflection on a visit that I took a few weeks ago to the Serenity Café, although, like many members here, I have popped round there for a quiet bite rather than just being in this building all the time. I was privileged to go formally there to see the many local projects assisting individuals in recovery from addiction, be that alcohol, drugs or both. On that occasion, I was delighted to see substantial progress being made on a range of individual journeys. I am reminded once again of the need for the right local infrastructure, which is essential in supporting successful recovery among individuals and being together, helping each other. We have heard quite a lot today about what we are doing at a national level, but a huge amount of what matters happens at local level. I know from going out to visit alcohol and drugs partnership and various projects run by the third sector that what really matters to individuals is the support that they receive in order to overcome the barriers to achieving recovery and what Jane Baxter said about what is happening in Fife reinforces that. I have seen that it takes a lot of strength and commitment on the part of individuals to achieve recovery. I would like to pay tribute to those individuals who are working towards recovery and those who are supporting them, in particular to our alcohol and drugs partnership, to the many third sector partners who deliver front-line services to the NHS staff who work tirelessly, often in challenging circumstances where alcohol is concerned and, of course, Police Scotland. Yesterday, I visited Lanarkshire alcohol and drugs partnership and they are leading the way with the work that they have done. They have won awards and what struck me very forcibly was that they have recovering alcoholics and drug addicts now offering that peer support that is so important. If you have the support of someone who has already been through that journey, that just makes so much more difference. Many of the alcohol and drug partnerships recognise the need to do more, to drill down, to reach out, to offer their services to those who are facing homelessness, offenders and those who are coming out of prison. Just today, I had a meeting with ministerial colleagues across portfolios to see what can be done by all of us to offer the services that they need. We have heard today and spoken today about the places of safety in the evenings. ADPs are locally responsible for assessing what the requirements are in their areas and for putting the best arrangements in place. Some opt for safe zone buses and I launched the Edinburgh one just a couple of months ago, and we have provided funding for those in Edinburgh and Dundee, but other models are used in other areas such as streets initiatives with street pastures and taxi marshals in some other places. However, as Christian Eilard mentioned, it is not just about the community's responsibility, it is about our individual responsibility. While it is important that places of safety are available, they need to be evidence and we need, as many have mentioned, to prevent circumstances where those are required in the first place. A society where alcohol consumption and drinking to get drunk are normalised is, by no means, unique to Scotland, but the consumption and the alcohol-related harms that we see here are pretty stark. NHS Health Scotland's MESAS programme, monitoring and evaluating Scotland's alcohol strategy, is, as Dr Simpson mentioned, invaluable in that respect. We know that Scots drink about a fifth more than their counterparts in England and Wales and that, of course, fuels the much higher levels of alcohol-related harms. Alcohol is now 60 per cent more affordable than it was in 1980, with the trend being driven by off-trade sales. It is disappointing that the Tories have broken the link on that and that the duties on alcohol are not keeping pace with us. I think that somebody mentioned the harms that are caused and the costs that that has on the public purse. The Labour Benchants mentioned the social responsibility, Levy, and it is something that, along with our finance colleagues, we can look at pubs and supermarkets, still report challenges, even though the economy is recovering. I think that introducing it might not be without its challenges. Despite falling by 9 per cent between 2009 and 2013, including a 2 per cent decline last year, the volume of pure alcohol sold in Scotland per adult has increased by 5 per cent between 1994 and 2013. Per adult sales in Scotland, it has been 17 to 19 per cent higher than England and Wales over the past five years. That difference has largely been due to spirit sales. In conclusion, the debate that we have had today will help us to take forward the strategy further. I return to the world health organisation priorities for action and alcohol, which was our starting point today. The preventative measures that who recommends on price availability, marketing and unmarketing, I have written to my counterpart at Westminster and I am pleased to say that my Welsh counterpart is backing me up on the request that we had on advertising. I very much hope that we can reach consensus that the next stage of the journey on tackling our nation's relationship with alcohol needs the strong backbone which the world health organisation priorities provide. I look forward to discussing the proposals in Richard Simpson's bill and, while I anticipate a more formal consultation process on the next phase of our strategy and due course, at this stage I welcome any and all contributions to the next steps. As Minister for Public Health, I will gladly discuss ideas with all members in the coming weeks and months. Thank you Minister. That concludes the debate on making progress on change in Scotland's relationship with alcohol. We now move to decision time. There are two questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is at amendment 13358.1, in the name of Jenny Marra, which seeks to amend motion 13358 in the name of Shona Robison. On making progress on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol be agreed to, are we all agreed? The amendment is there for agreed to. The next question is at amendment 13358, in the name of Shona Robison, as amended, on making progress on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol be agreed to, are we all agreed? The motion is there for agreed to. That concludes decision time and I now close this meeting.