Health chiefs spend £300,000 on cups to tackle boozing

Published on Wednesday 26 January 2011 10:18

THE Scottish Government has come under fire for spending more than £300,000 on half a million plastic cups as part of a bizarre bid to encourage responsible drinking.

&#149 The cups show how many units of alcohol people are pouring

The cups – which have marks on the side to allow people to measure how many units of alcohol they are drinking – are being handed out to the public as part of a roadshow which is touring shopping centres around the country, including the Gyle on Saturday.

The aim is to encourage people drinking at home to monitor how much alcohol they are drinking by pouring their drink into the cup before putting it into the glass.

But critics today branded the move a waste of money.

The Scottish Government said it had ordered 536,340 of the cups at a total cost of 302,157, which works out at 56p per cup. They are also available free from a range of shops, including Aldi, Spar, RS McColl and Superdrug.

One of the organisers said: "If you're drinking in a pub, you know what the measures are, but if you're drinking at home it's very easy for the measures to be much larger than you think. If you're having a couple of glasses of wine every night it soon adds up."

But Edinburgh Pentlands Tory MSP David McLetchie said he was sceptical about the use to which the plastic cups would be put in people's homes.

He said measuring out drinks went against prevailing culture. He said: "People are capable of drinking responsibly without having to resort to measuring devices.

"300,000 is a lot of money to be spending on plastic cups which I think will have a very short lifespan. I doubt if any host will want to be seen measuring out drinks to his guests."

Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Pringle said: "It does seem a lot of money for plastic cups when we are extremely short of cash.

"We are constantly being urged to do this, that and the next thing and we need to be able to get on and live our lives without being harassed by politicians and governments."

According to the "sensible drinking" guidelines, men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day, women should limit themselves to two or three and everyone should aim to have at least two alcohol-free days a week.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the measuring cups had been well received at the roadshows.

She added: "Alcohol misuse costs Scotland 3.56 billion a year in extra services and lost productivity and it is vital that we do all we can to tackle this."