Chamber and committees

Okay. Thank you.

Good morning. I know that all the witnesses have touched on this slightly, but I want to ensure that the evidence is on the record for the committee. What would you say to people who have concluded from the available evidence that minimum unit pricing is not working in targeting problem drinkers?

Convener, my other questions have been answered.

The previous witnesses and all the charities dealing with alcohol-related diseases and problems have called for an alcohol levy, as there was until 2015. I ask each of you to say whether you are in favour of the alcohol levy and for the money raised by it to be put back into the organisations that support people with alcohol addictions and their families and so on.

I have just a quick supplementary question. I find it odd that from everybody who is represented here, nobody can tell me where the profit went.

Everybody who sells alcohol needs an operating plan. I spent the last few weeks going through Fife Council’s licensing papers and new applications. The majority of them, especially from small grocers, were for extensions for sales of alcohol. So, you tell me—if they were not making a profit, would they be extending the areas for selling alcohol? So, bigger retailers and smaller grocers are getting their profits. You could go through the licensing papers and check that in every local authority. I would bet that the number of people who are putting in for extensions to sell alcohol shows that they are making greater profit from it.

Is it not the case that you would expand the area to sell a particular good if you are making greater profit from it?

Are the other witnesses in favour of an alcohol levy?

Just to give an example, Diageo, which is located in my constituency and Jenny Gilruth’s constituency, made £4.6 billion in profit alone last year from its alcohol sales. I know that both Paul Waterson and Dr Cheema have agreed that, if a levy were targeted, they could go there. Mr Price and Mr Richardson, do you think that the taxpayer should pay for all the damage that alcohol causes and for all the costs of the NHS and the various treatments and charities? Should businesses not contribute something back that would be targeted to help?

Thank you for that.

Does that average figure include convenience stores that do not sell alcohol? Does it cover every convenience store in Scotland?