FOI/202500472919 · FOI · cost limit
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.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 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. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
Attachments
No attachments found.