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You said a number of things in that opening answer. You said that 156 lives had been saved as if it were a fact, but that is an estimate based on modelling that is under intense scrutiny. You talked about comprehensive evidence, but you were referring to only one out of the 30 papers that were evaluated.

The other issue that I want to get into here is that of dependent drinkers. How has MUP affected dependent drinkers? Before I come back to Alison Douglas, I would like to bring in Justina Murray.

Was it statistically significant?

Sorry, I—

Thank you, convener, and apologies. I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner.

I declare an interest as a practising NHS GP.

Can I come back to you, please, Dr Cheema? We looked at Public Health Scotland’s modelling—it was modelling, because we all know that the number of deaths has gone up—and saw that it modelled against England. If it had modelled against Wales, we would have seen no difference, which is what Wales has found. If we had modelled against Northern Ireland, we would have seen that MUP exacerbated the number of deaths. Therefore, the way that the data was collected is a bit of a concern. What are your thoughts about that?

I believe the evidence. I want to make that abundantly clear. That is why I am asking the questions. I asked you specifically what effect MUP has on dependent drinkers, which you have not answered yet.

We will certainly come on to those questions, but, again, you have not answered my question about dependent drinkers, because—

We heard from the previous panel members that money has been generated, although we are not sure how much. It could be between £90 million and £200 million over the three years. It is clear that money has been generated from MUP, but who has that money? Where is it physically going? Whose pocket has it ended up in?

I was speaking to a small business owner—a retailer—who told me that, when she sells alcohol, she listens to the conversations that are going on. She does that because she knows that—I will name the brand—Dragon Soop is very popular with children because of how sweet it is, and that parents are buying it for their kids. When she hears a parent calling their kid to ask which one they want, she refuses to sell it to them. That diminishes her profits, but she does it because she feels that it is the right thing to do. Therefore, convenience stores do a lot of good in this area.

When we are looking at ways of raising money via a levy or at using the money that is generated by MUP—we have agreed that we do not know where that money is; perhaps we need to find out where it is—would it not be useful to consider putting that money back into education, palpable brief interventions and targeted help for people in order to reduce harms?

I am not sure whether I need to declare my interest again, but I shall do so. I am a practising NHS GP.

I have met the Association of Anaesthetists, the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council Scotland on multiple occasions to discuss physician associates and anaesthesia associates; I have a number of concerns about their roles. There is a really important point to be made when it comes to regulation: we cannot regulate a body if we do not know what people’s roles are and what the scope of their practice is. “Supervision level” has not been defined. Is supervision on a one-to-one basis, a two-to-one basis or a three-to-one basis? The numbers could go on. In her questioning, Emma Harper spoke of the tightly defined role of an anaesthesia associate in the US.

Let us consider two issues. First, the fit and healthy patients whom Emma Harper spoke about are exactly the type of patients whom our junior doctors are required to deal with during their training. When junior doctors start their training, they cannot start by treating really complicated patients; they need to start by anaesthetising—obviously, with supervision—fit and healthy patients. That is really important. Therefore, there are impediments to training and, potentially, other issues.

I have also heard of—