A 50p minimum unit price for alcohol is expected to be approved by MSPs on Holyrood's Health Committee.
Before the policy - which was delayed by a lengthy courtroom challenge - can come in to place next month, the Scottish Parliament has to vote on the level it will be set at.
Health Secretary Shona Robison has previously said 50p is the "right rate" for this and members of the Health and Sport Committee are likely to give it their backing.
The minimum unit price then has to be approved by the Parliament as a whole before coming into effect on May 1.
The Health Secretary has already pledged to MSPs that the minimum unit price for drink would be kept "under review to ensure it delivers the desired outcomes for the people of Scotland".
Speaking in February, she stressed: "We believe that the 50p rate is the right rate and there's no current plans to change that."
Almost three-quarters (74.3%) of those who took part in the Scottish Government's consultation supported a 50p minimum price - although some organisations called for it to be higher.
However, research has predicted minimum pricing at this level will lead to 392 fewer alcohol-related deaths and more than 8,000 fewer alcohol-related hospital admissions.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel