NHS Health Scotland has been tasked by the Scottish Government to lead the evaluation of Scotland’s alcohol strategy through the Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) work programme. There is a commitment to providing annual reports from MESAS and in March 2011 the first annual report (the baseline report) was published, followed by the second annual report in December 2012.
This report is the third annual report that provides an update on Scotland’s alcohol strategy. It includes the evaluation plan, the trends in price and affordability, alcohol sales and consumption, and alcohol-related harm as detailed in the baseline report. New chapters incorporating findings from the evaluation of the Licensing Act and the contribution of the economic downturn to recent falls in alcohol-related harms in Scotland are also included.