Alcohol | RCPCH

Alcohol

Document

State of Child Health 2026: Substance misuse

This indicator analyses trends in drug and alcohol use among young people. However, there are current limitations to this indicator, as there is no shared, standardised measure of substance misuse prevalence across the nations.

Health policy

Alcohol

News

RCPCH responds to Chief Medical Officer for Wales’s annual report

4 December 2025

The Chief Medical Officer has published her annual report 2024 to 2025, which explores how prevention is vital for better health, and how our NHS workforce is key for effective, sustainable care.

Resource

Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing continuation and future pricing consultation

In November 2023, we responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). MUP was implemented in Scotland in 2018 and the consultation sought to discern whether it ought to continue. Below is a short summary, with our full response available in the downloads section.

Health policy

Public health

Alcohol

News

RCPCH Scotland responds to the Programme for Government 2023-24

6 September 2023

The Scottish Government has announced its Programme for Government 2023-24 and has outlined a number of policies and announcements related to child health.

Resource

Restricting alcohol advertising and promotion - consultation response

In March 2023, the Scottish Government called for views on their proposed restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland. In our response, we highlighted the ways in which alcohol is harmful to children and young people and stated that we are supportive of policies that will work to e...

Public health

Alcohol

News

RCPCH Scotland responds to the Scottish Health Survey 2018

25 September 2019

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) provides a detailed picture of the health of the Scottish population in private households and is designed to make a major contribution to the monitoring of health in Scotland. RCPCH Officer for Scotland, Professor Steve Turner, responds.

Resource

Energy drinks inquiry – consultation response

In 2018 we responded to the Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into energy drinks. We welcome the increased scrutiny on food and beverages that have low or no nutritional or therapeutic value, contain potentially harmful ingredients and are heavily marketed to children and young people.

News

“UK is lagging behind” – RCPCH responds to Nuffield Trust report

20 February 2019

The Nuffield Trust and the Association for Young People's Health have today published the first ever international comparison of young people's health measures over time, comparing the UK to 18 other high-income countries. Professor Russell Viner, President of the RCPCH, responds.

News

Child health high on the agenda, but political uncertainty and public health cuts pose risk to progress, warns RCPCH President

23 January 2019

The RCPCH has published State of Child Health: Two Years On, which highlights progress made against the policy recommendations in our landmark State of Child Health 2017 report.