Website: www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk

Stated Aims

[From its website]

"Alcohol Focus Scotland is committed to improving the quality of people's lives by changing Scotland's drinking culture - promoting responsible drinking behaviour and discouraging drinking to excess."

Context

Quoted by the BBC on 02.03.09 in favour of a wide range of temperance measures including

• Minimum price per unit of alcohol
• Raising age for off-sale purchase to 21
• Banning discount deals

The charity has previously recommended creating separate check-out lines for alcohol purchases in supermarkets, a measure that even the Scottish executive considered to be excessive.

Details

As a Scottish charity, its accounts are not available online. Experience in England shows that the general public are very reluctant to donate to the anti-alcohol cause, so we can be sure they receive a substantial portion of their £1,526,718 income from the state.  

This is confirmed in this report [PDF] which states: 

"Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) is Scotland's main voluntary sector body dealing with alcohol misuse.  It receives core grant funding and project specific funding (for example for the ServeWise programme for responsible retailing of alcohol) from the Scottish Executive, but is wholly independent of it." 

In 2004, this core grant amounted to £240,000 and has almost certainly risen since then.

Further information would be appreciated.