Public investment and policy on alcohol industry and harm: FOI release

Information requested

Question 1. Grants, Loans, and Other Financial Support to the Alcohol Industry (2010– Present)

For all grants, loans, or financial incentives provided by the Scottish Government or its agencies to alcohol-related companies or trade bodies (e.g. whisky producers, brewers, distillers), please provide:

• Name of recipient
• Amount awarded
• Date
• Funding scheme name or budget line
• Purpose or description
• Whether funding was repayable or non-repayable

Question 2. Policy Papers, Briefings, and Ministerial Communications

Please provide any policy briefings, cabinet notes, or ministerial correspondence (from 2018–present) relating to:

• Balancing public health goals with alcohol industry economic strategy
• Alcohol industry lobbying on health-related policy (e.g. minimum unit pricing, advertising bans)
• Justification of continued public investment in the alcohol sector

Question 3. Public Health Messaging Conflicts

Any internal reviews, discussions, or documents addressing the tension or contradiction between:

• Alcohol as a “national shame” (as stated in public health messaging); and
• The alcohol industry as a national economic asset.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

Question 1

The following table provides a list of food and drink grants provided by the Scottish Government to alcohol related organisations.

Where noted in the table, these grants were potentially repayable (either in full, or partially) if an applicant breached scheme conditions within an agreed control period. No repayments have been required to be made however.

Awards to Alcohol Projects under the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme 2014-20
All grants repayable during the grant control period under scheme legislation
Beneficiary	Award	Date of Award	Description
Roddenloft Brewery Ltd	£10,484.00	08/02/2016	New warehouse for handling raw material and finished product together with equipment to support this development
Harviestoun Brewery Ltd	£25,408.65	08/02/2016	Kegging and bottling unit to allow small batch production
KIC Holdings/Morrison & Mackay Limited	£433,689.87	02/03/2016	Building work, installing plant and packing/labeling equipment
Drimnin Distillery Limited	£513,322.80	08/02/2016	Building a new distillery
Fallen Brewing Company Limited	£20,706.40	11/04/2016	Conditioning tanks, fermenting tanks and a canning facility
R & B Distillers Limited	£716,574.28	08/06/2016	Purchase of building on the Isle of Raasay and conversion into the Raasay Distillery
Lochlea Distilling Company Ltd	£387,615.65	16/09/2016	Create a Lowland whisky distillery
Speyside Craft Brewery Limited	£28,627.60	16/09/2016	Purchase and installation of brewing equipment to increase production
Isle of Arran Distillers	£877,454.10	16/09/2016	Build a new distillery/warehousing facility
Douglas Laing & Co Ltd	£855,430.07	05/05/2017	Construction of a new distillery in Glasgow
Kelburn Brewing Company Limited	£54,471.98	04/07/2017	Building works, flooring works and drainage, and the purchase and installation of plant /equipment
			Upgrade an existing farm building into a food
Caledonia Cider Co	£51,337.74	23/11/2017	compliant production facility and install fruit processing and storage equipment
Highland Brewing Company Ltd	£103,791.16	20/04/2018	Purchase of plant/equipment
West Beverages Ltd	£808,317.24	20/12/2018	New brewing facility
North Uist Distillery Ltd	£192,679.36	10/03/2020	Distilling equipment for new whisky distillery
The Brewers Association of Scotland	£40,000.00	23/11/2017	Support Brewers attendance at two trade shows
Coleburn Investments Limited *1	£246,476.54	04/07/2017	Building works and distilling plant & equipment to create a boutique distillery at the existing Coleburn Distillery site
Adrgowan Distillery Company Limited *2	£982,723.04	02/11/2017	Development of a whisky distillery
*1 - Application withdrawn by beneficiary in 2018
*2 - Grant withdrawn by Scottish Government in 2020
Marketing Development Scheme
Beneficiary	Award	Date of Award	Description
Brewdog plc	£119,200.00	2014	Part funding marketing advisers
Award under the Industrial Development Act 1982
Grant repayable during the grant control period under scheme legislation
Beneficiary	Award	Date of Award	Description
Brewdog plc	£526,137.00	02/07/2013	Construction of a brewery at Ellon
Awards to Alcohol Projects under the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme 2007-13
All grants repayable during the grant control period under scheme legislation
Beneficiary	Award	Date of Award	Description
Heidi Beers	£1,473,174.00	01/08/2012	New brewery in Glasgow
Kingsbarns Distillery	£670,442.00	21/09/2012	Renovating an old building into a Distillery
Isle of Harris Distillers	£1,923,812.00	10/01/2013	Constructing a new distillery at Tarbert
Adelphi Distillery	£1,772,406.00	19/06/2013	Construction of a new Distillery
Falkirk Whisky Distillery	£444,403.00	25/06/2013	Construction of a new Distillery
John Fergus & Co	£1,579,118.00	25/06/2013	Micro distillery and bonded warehouse
Ballindalloch Facility	£1,274,684.00	25/06/2013	Micro distillery and bonded warehouse
Fyne Ales Ltd	£358,118.00	09/07/2013	Conversion of farm building to form new brewery
Aniston Farms	£292,460.00	25/06/2013	Construction of a new Distillery

In addition an award was made through the COVID-19 “Scottish Food and Drink Producers Fund” which was administered by the Scottish Government. Details as follows:

• Name of recipient – Gorgeous Gin
• Amount awarded - £1800
• Date – April 2022
• Funding scheme name or budget line – Scottish Food and Drink Producers Fund
• Purpose or description – Following the emergence of the Omicron variant, the fund was developed to provide support to primary and secondary food and drink producers who supply to the hospitality sector, and who encountered hardship as a consequence of heightened public health restrictions introduced between 8 December 2021 and 24 January 2022.
• Whether funding was repayable or non-repayable – Non-repayable

Support for businesses was also made available during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the funds were administered by local authorities.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. You may wish to contact individual local authorities or its other agencies directly to see if they hold the information you have requested.

A comprehensive summary of the Scottish business COVID-19 support funding is publicly available which may be of interest to you: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-summary-ofscottish-business-support-funding/

In addition, the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) provides non-repayable matchfunding support for industrial decarbonisation projects, for example through energy efficiency improvements. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. A list of Scottish Government funded projects through SIETF are available as case studies on our website, with project descriptions, grant amount and total project costs.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-industrial-energy-transformation-fund-sietf-winners-and-casestudies/pages/competition-winners-2021/.

If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Question 2

(i) Balancing public health goals with alcohol industry economic strategy

I have interpreted this question to ask for all policy briefings, cabinet papers and ministerial correspondence including email exchanges which refer to balancing public health measures which reduce alcohol related harm and the potential impact these measures may have on the alcohol industry from 2018 to the date of the request (25 June 2025).

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. This is due to the scope of the request and associated time required to provide the information for release. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example narrowing the timeframe or narrowing the type of information requested to a particular type of document. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.      

(ii) Alcohol industry lobbying on health-related policy (e.g. minimum unit pricing, advertising bans)

All of the information you have requested is available from the Lobbying Register Home - Lobbying Register. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

(iii) Justification of continued public investment in the alcohol sector

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The information does not exist. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Question 3.

I have interpreted this question to ask for any internal emails between officials, emails with ministers, or documents which refer to alcohol being discussed as a ‘national shame’ within the timeframe of 2018 to the date of the request (25 June 2025).

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The information does not exist. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

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