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The Scottish Government notes that this is an opinion and it will be the judgement of the EU Court of Justice that specifies what the law is on this matter.

The Scottish Government is aware of the opinion of Advocate-General Mengozzi of the EU Court of Justice in Case 108/09 Ker-Optika of 15 June 2010, has considered it and is watching developments in the case.

A total off-trade discount ban on its own was modelled by the University of Sheffield, however this does not produce the same estimated level of benefits as a minimum price of 45p per unit.

Notes:

*£3.198 million was allocated by Scottish Government to local authorities for suicide prevention action, with associated guidance on priorities for the use of funds.

**Under the concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA, funding for local suicide prevention action in 2008-11 is wrapped up in general allocations to local authorities. It is for local authorities to determine, on the basis of local circumstances and needs, how to prioritise this funding.

Funding provided for the Choose Life programme in 2010-11 is less than that provided in 2009-10, due to Choose Life now being situated within NHS Health Scotland and having access to their internal resources to help support Choose Life programme objectives. Choose Life now have the practical and professional support of the larger organisation, as well as drawing on their knowledge, expertise and development skills at no extra cost. Effectively the programme objectives are being supported at the same level at a reduced cost to the Scottish Government.

Other Scottish Government funding is also provided to support a range of actions on improving mental health and wellbeing, such as the development of a Confidential Suicide Register for Scotland aimed at improving future knowledge on suicide prevention, and other programmes of work designed to tackle depression and anxiety.

Note: It is normal to expect a level of abandoned calls in any contact centre and this can vary depending on the nature of the business.

The average number of calls received and answered in 2006-07 to 2010-11 is as follows:

The figures show a consistent and significant rise in calls received since 2006.

Making further reductions in the number of deaths from heart attack is an important theme of the Scottish Government''s Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action plan, published in June 2009. The action plan includes an action which places responsibility on NHS boards to look at introducing defibrillators in public places and our National Advisory Committee on heart disease will monitor the progress that is being made.

We also want to ensure that the best equipment is in place for patients and we are providing £7.5 million of funding to provide cutting-edge defibrillators in Scotland''s ambulance fleet. We believe this investment in the most up-to-date technology will improve heart attack survival rates and save lives.

The Scottish Ambulance Service recognises the importance of reaching people who have had a cardiac arrest quickly and treating them effectively. It therefore has two local delivery plan (LDP) targets related to cardiac arrest:

Between 12-20% of eligible cardiac arrest patients with Return of Spontaneous Circulation on arrival at hospital, and

Reach 80% of cardiac arrest patients within eight minutes (mainland Scotland).

This delay was exceptional and due to the combination of increased call demand, and reduced staff availability because of staff turnover.

All reasonable steps are taken to answer calls, including supervisors answering the calls, to try to avoid callers waiting longer than necessary.

The average time for a call to be answered since January 2010 is 21 seconds.

In June, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) announced that it would install defibrillators on all of its ambulances this year. This state-of-the-art technology will replace existing defibrillators in a £7.5 million initiative funded by the Scottish Government.